All I Wanted
by misslaurenelizabeth
Summary: AH/AU: Fresh off of a break-up and still semi-regularly hooking up with her toxic ex-boyfriend, all college student Elena Gilbert wanted from Damon Salvatore was a perfectly nice evening. All investment banker Damon Salvatore wanted from Elena Gilbert was another notch on his already crowded bedpost. They're about to find out that you can't always get what you want.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Didn't I just finish a story? You'd think my brain would want to take a rest from DE for a while, but Noooooo. I stayed up last night writing a description and brief outline for this story in my head. So I'm back with another crazy AU (also AH).**

 **Of course per the description, Elena and Damon will NOT exclusively be hooking up with each other throughout this story. Consider this your fair warning. My TPL readers know that I like to mix it up sometimes (though they might tell you that they hate me for it). At least I deliver on my promise for a happily ever after for DE.**

* * *

 **I'm dancing in the room as if I was in the woods with you**

The strobe lights flashed around the noisy nightclub as Elena took a sip from her cranberry and vodka, her fourth cranberry and vodka since she'd gotten there actually. Electronic dance music pulsed around her and she tugged the hem of her black bodycon dress down slightly. She leaned over the railing to look down to the dance floor below her, a mess of sweaty drunk people grinding against each other in the dark. One more drink and she'd definitely be ready to head down to the center of it.

"Are we ready to dance yet?" Bonnie asked as she leaned her head on Elena's shoulder. Bonnie had promised to be the sober driver tonight, but that didn't mean she couldn't tear up the dance floor while she watched her two roommates drink themselves into a stupor over their boy problems.

"One more drink first!" Caroline answered. "We need to make sure we post a group picture on Instagram so Tyler can see how much fun I'm having without him!"

"Oh God, if you know who sees that, I will never hear the fucking end of it," Elena groaned, finishing the last of her drink and throwing her cup in the trash. "I'll get us another round. Bonnie, you want a water?"

After Bonnie nodded her head in response, Elena made her way over to the bar. She placed her order easily. After all, the bartender had been staring at her cleavage since she'd gotten there. While she waited for her drinks to be ready, she fished her phone out of her clutch and checked it briefly.

He'd called her three times and texted her twelve. Instead of bothering to respond to any of them, she put her phone back in her clutch and paid the bartender for the round. She tried to pick up all three cups, but she wobbled a little and fell into the guy that was sitting at the bar next to her. She'd managed to save Bonnie's water and Caroline's beer, but her precious cranberry and vodka spilled all over his shirt before she'd even taken a sip of it.

"This is my favorite shirt," an annoyed voice gritted out to her.

"It's a black t-shirt," she answered without looking at the source of the voice. She turned around to face the bar again. She'd have to buy a replacement drink. "I'm sure you can find another one."

Normally, Elena would be apologizing to the guy profusely. The thing was, Elena didn't feel like being demure and docile right now. She'd been letting her ex-boyfriend lecture her all day and she wasn't about to take any shit from some guy in a Hanes t-shirt at a nightclub.

"It's actually Yves Saint Laurent," the voice responded.

"And I'm actually not impressed," she quipped.

She finally glanced up to him and she had to do a double take at the crystal blue eyes that were boring into her. They were a stark contrast to the almost jet black hair. His jawline was so sharp that she thought for sure she could cut glass with it.

"Hi not impressed, I'm Damon Salvatore." He held out his hand to her.

Elena just stood there a little slack-jawed and a whole lot mesmerized. She knew exactly who he was because he'd given a guest lecture in one of her business classes at NYU last year. Not only was he incredibly good looking, he'd managed to start his own investment firm and turn it into a billion dollar Wall Street staple by the time he was thirty. Then, as if that wasn't enough, he took a chunk of that money and started a non-profit to help combat poverty.

Yeah, he was basically perfect. She drooled over him then and she was drooling over him now. The difference was that now he could see her.

"Hello?" He waved his hand in front of her face to get her attention.

"Uh, yeah. I'm, I'm Elena Gilbert actually," she stuttered out. "Sorry about your shirt."

He shrugged and smirked at her. "I'm sure I can find another one."

"I'm not normally this rude. I'm just having the worst day. Can I pay to have it cleaned?" she offered.

"How about I buy you a replacement drink instead?" Damon deflected.

Elena opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by Caroline sauntering up to her.

"Bonnie's in the bathroom, but she wants to go dance as soon as she gets out. Where's my beer?" Caroline reached around Elena to snatch the glass bottle off of the bar top in front of her before glancing toward Damon. "Who's this guy?"

"Damon, meet my roommate Caroline. Caroline, this is Damon. I spilled my drink on him." Elena quickly introduced them.

Caroline narrowed her eyes at Damon. "I know you."

"Oh you do?" Damon raised his eyebrows.

"You're that guy who was on the front of Forbes magazine last month! Top 30 Under 30 or whatever!" She drunkenly pointed a finger at him.

Elena nudged Caroline with her elbow and leaned to whisper into her ear. "Act like you've met a millionaire before, will you?"

"I am," Damon nodded his head slightly and stared intently at Elena. "What are you drinking?"

"Cranberry and vodka, please."

Damon placed the order and paid for her drink. As soon as Elena took a sip from the cup, she moaned lightly at the taste. Few things tasted as delicious combined together as vodka and cranberry juice.

"Well sorry to say, Damon. Elena here owes me a dance so," Caroline wrapped her hand around Elena's wrist and hauled her away from the bar.

They collided with Bonnie who had just come out of the bathroom. "That line was unbelievably long. Can we dance now? Finally?"

The three of them held onto each other as they went down the staircase and into the lower level of the nightclub. Caroline led them all to the center of the dance floor and they started to sway to the music. Three songs in, Elena felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Damon standing behind her.

"May I?" he yelled at her over the music.

Elena's eyes widened, but she nodded her head and allowed him to snake his arms around her waist. She looked to Caroline and Bonnie for their reaction, but they'd gone to request a song from the DJ and basically left her alone with him.

Damon was actually a pretty decent dancer. Elena had to give him that. Most guys were just looking to grind their junk into a girl's ass for a song or two, but Damon moved with her. He was keeping up with her and he smelled fucking amazing while doing it.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest as their hips moved and she could feel his grip tighten on his hips. If her ex knew this was happening right now, he'd surely flip his shit. Elena couldn't let thoughts of him get in the way of how Damon was making her feel right now, which if she was being completely honest was unbelievably turned on.

The song ended too quickly and Damon stepped away from her, breaking Elena out of her trance-like state.

"Thank you for the dance," he spoke into her ear and again all she could do was nod her head before she watched him disappear through the crowd.

"Oh girl, he is so hot!" Bonnie exclaimed as she dragged Elena off of the dance floor.

"Where were you two? He could've kidnapped me!" Elena lightly smacked them on their arms.

"Oh don't act like you weren't loving it. We wanted to give you some privacy. We were right over there!" Caroline pointed to a spot a couple of feet away.

"He is kind of hot, isn't he?" Elena bit her lip just thinking about the way he grabbed her waist.

"He clearly wants you!" Caroline encouraged.

"I'm not exactly available," Elena responded.

"Last time I checked, that asshole had no claim over you!" Bonnie egged her on.

Elena's expression must have given her away because both of her roommates looked at her disapprovingly.

"Did you sleep with him again?" Bonnie crossed her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow.

"Stop with the judgment, Bon. You don't know how persuasive he can be!" Elena yelled back.

Bonnie held up her hands defensively. "Sorry, okay? No judgment. We just want you to move on with your life. What better way than a one night stand with Mr. Rich Guy Do Gooder CEO? He's basically your dream man!"

"You think so?" Elena pondered it for a moment. To say that her love life was complicated would be a vast understatement, but she was technically single. Was it true that the best way to get over someone was to get under someone else? Maybe it was. Maybe a little sex with a good looking rich guy who she would clearly never see again could be just what she needed.

"He's at the bar staring you down," Caroline sang.

Elena directed her attention to the bar and surely Damon was standing there talking with a friend, but clearly staring directly at her.

Bonnie lightly pushed Elena towards the bar. "Go talk to him. Go."

Elena moved her feet in front of her ever so slowly. She'd already grinded on him, why was she so nervous now that the possibility of going home with him was present?

If she was being truthful, it was because she hadn't had sex with anyone else in three years. Since the first day she moved into her freshman dorm, it had been him. They'd met in the dining hall on her first day of college and that was it. She'd been swept up in a whirlwind romance with him ever since where they'd fight then make-up on almost a weekly basis. It'd gone on for three years and when she finally stopped returning his phone calls, he'd officially broken up with her. That didn't stop them from sleeping together at least once a week for the last three months. It had become a very unhealthy and very repetitive cycle.

But now was her chance to break that cycle. Elena took a deep breath and walked the last remaining steps to where Damon was standing at the bar. He was still engaging in the conversation with his friend, but his eyes never once left her.

"Hi," she spoke once she was close enough for him to hear her.

"Hi back," he answered.

They both stood there and eyed each other up and down silently for what felt like forever. Elena was clearly sizing him up and the liquid courage in her system prevented her from being ashamed about it. She was blushing, but not out of embarrassment. It was purely because of the way he was methodically gazing at her, which made her so warm that she felt like she was catching fire.

The sound of his friend clearing his throat grabbed their attention and she turned to look at the man standing beside of Damon.

"I'm Enzo," he held out his hand to her and she shook it.

"I'm Elena. Nice to meet you, Enzo." She started to pull her hand away from his, but he wouldn't let go just yet. Instead, he brought it to his lips and kissed the back of it.

"Enzo's quite the charmer, at least he thinks he is." Damon took a sip from his drink.

"Now is that any way to talk about your closest and dearest friend?" Enzo mocked offense and it was at that moment that Elena picked up on his British accent. "We've been mates since boarding school and this is how he treats me."

Elena giggled in response, but she nervously chewed on her bottom lip because she wasn't sure what to say next. She started to look around for Bonnie and Caroline for backup, but they weren't within her eyesight.

"Can you not scare her away?" Damon teased Enzo. "Elena, can I buy you another drink?"

She nodded her head. "Um, sure."

Damon ordered another cranberry and vodka for her. Elena knew she probably didn't need it. She was getting close to her limit, but it was a kind offer from an extremely attractive and impressive man. She wasn't about to turn that down. What she couldn't figure out was how to translate this interaction into sex. She wasn't very good at flirting. She hadn't tried to do it in so long that she'd become pretty rusty at it.

"Do you have any friends with you?" Enzo asked her as she sipped her drink.

"Yeah, my roommates. They're around here somewhere," she replied while looking around for them again. She spotted Caroline's blonde hair weaving through the crowd with Bonnie behind her and coming towards them.

"Why does it take a million years every time I need to go to the bathroom here?" Caroline complained as she approached them. She looked briefly in Enzo's direction and briefly acknowledged him with a hello.

"Bonnie and Caroline, this is Enzo. You've met Damon." Elena made the introductions quickly.

The five of them actually fell into pretty easy conversation over the loud music and they spent the rest of the night talking at the bar. Damon, ever the gentleman, insisted that everyone's drinks be put onto his tab. Elena didn't even want to know what that bill was going to look like at the end of the night.

Bonnie started to yawn. She was the only sober one and it was getting really late. "I have to take Grams to church tomorrow. I don't know how much longer I can stay," she said regretfully. It wasn't easy being a good wingwoman for Elena when she had to be awake and presentable in less than 5 hours.

"I can drive Elena and Caroline home," Damon politely offered. "That is, if you two want to hang out a little while longer."

Caroline never really missed a beat when it came to being a wingwoman, sober or drunk, tired or not. "What kind of car do you drive?"

"A Camaro," Damon said proudly.

"She's his baby," Enzo cut in. "He loves that car more than anything. I almost threw up in it one time and he threatened to leave me on the side of the road."

"CEO, philanthropist, and psycho car lover?" Elena teased.

"Triple threat," Damon replied.

"You sure you're okay to drive?" Bonnie asked Damon. "Do not drive drunk with my best friends in your car."

"Positive," he reassured.

"Okay. I love you both. Be safe. Call me if you need me. Do you promise?" Bonnie hugged Elena and Caroline tightly.

"We promise," Caroline replied.

Elena nodded her head as well.

Once Bonnie had left, Elena and Caroline both finished their drinks. Damon had switched to water at this point, but Enzo was still knocking back shots.

"Can you take a picture of us, please?" Caroline tapped the shoulder of a girl standing near them and handed her phone over.

Enzo, Damon, Caroline, and Elena all huddled together to snap a picture. Elena was all smiles. This night had allowed her to get away from the mess that was her life for a little while and it was just what the doctor had ordered.

"Do not post that online. He'll freak out," Elena quietly warned her roommate.

"Oh, chill. It's fine." Caroline pulled up Instagram and started testing out different filters.

"Caroline, I mean it."

"Ugh, okay." Caroline shoved her phone back into her clutch.

"Please tell me that we're stopping for food on our way home?" Enzo slung his arm around Damon's shoulder.

"Oh! I could go for some French fries!" Caroline added.

Damon looked at Elena, who nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Fries it is," he confirmed.

By the time they pulled up at the drive-thru, Caroline was asleep in the backseat with her head resting on Elena's lap.

"I don't think she'll wake up to eat anything," Elena whispered. "Maybe just grab her a water? I don't think I want anything."

Enzo started stuffing fries into his mouth as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"Do not get grease all over my leather seats," Damon warned him in a stern voice. "Again."

"Relax, mate. I got this." Enzo wiped his greasy fingers onto his jeans instead.

"We are dropping your drunk ass off first." Damon navigated his way to an apartment building and Enzo climbed out of the passenger seat.

He tried to bow, but stumbled instead. "Farewell, beautiful ladies."

Once Damon pulled away from Enzo's apartment, he glanced into his rearview mirror and connected eyes with Elena.

"Sorry about him. He's an idiot. Where to, Elena?"

"Um, we're about a mile east of campus. Take a left here." She gave him directions to her house and soon they pulled into her driveway safely.

Elena knew this was it. She could take Caroline into the house, bid Damon goodnight, and go to sleep alone in her own bed. That's what her ex would want. That's what he was counting on. But that wasn't what she wanted to happen.

"Could you help me get her upstairs?" Elena motioned to Caroline.

"Yeah, sure." Damon answered as he stepped out of the car. He reached into the backseat and picked her up easily.

Elena walked up the driveway and searched for her keys in her clutch while he followed behind her with a sleeping Caroline in his arms. Careful not to wake Bonnie, she stuck her key into the front door and slowly turned the knob.

Damon followed her up the staircase until they came to Caroline's room. He placed her down on her bed and she barely stirred at all. "She's out like a light," he whispered to Elena.

"Thank you," Elena told him as she rested her hand on his shoulder. The thrill of that tiny touch made her heart flutter.

After they closed Caroline's bedroom door securely, they stood in the hallway alone together. Elena knew now was her chance. Damon had been a perfect gentleman to her all night. There were no red flags in sight. This would be a great one night stand.

"It's late to be driving alone. You could stay the night here, if you want." She shyly shuffled her feet beneath her.

"Oh, that's okay. Couch sleeping isn't really my thing." Damon turned to walk down the stairs, but Elena caught his wrist and tugged him toward her bedroom door.

"You're really going to make me spell this out for you, aren't you?"

"Nope. Message clearly received." Damon followed her into her bedroom and she closed the door behind them softly.

"I should warn you that I'm not very good at this," Elena began. "At least that's what I've been told."

"Is this some kind of new seduction technique that I'm unfamiliar with?" Damon raised an eyebrow at her as he took purposeful steps towards her. He ran the pad of his thumb along her bottom lip slowly.

"I'm sorry. I'm just kind of nervous."

"Let me try to ease your nerves then," he whispered before capturing her lips in a long and gentle kiss.

They broke apart and Elena felt like she could collapse from just that one kiss alone. She was desperate for him and he'd only just touched her lips.

"Am I helping?" he asked.

She nodded her head slowly.

"Good," he chuckled as he began to kiss her again.

Her knees started to buckle from the sensation, but Damon was quick to hold her up in his arms. He walked them over to her bed and rested her on her back. He reached up to tug off his t-shirt then slid off his jeans. Elena loved how mussed up his hair had become. She smiled at the sight. It was the first time all night that he looked less than perfect.

Then she looked down and took in the rest of his body and suddenly she was not smiling anymore. He was so fit, so perfectly sculpted. She was starting to feel a little self-conscious in comparison.

"I don't work out," she warned as he started to lift her dress off of her. He threw it on the floor and she suddenly felt so exposed in just her underwear. Damn Caroline for convincing her that she didn't need to wear a bra with this outfit. She could really use the extra fabric right now.

"So?" he asked before his lips went to her collarbones.

"I'm sorry," she apologized again.

"Stop saying you're sorry and just let me kiss you."

"Sorry," she said again.

His head shot up and he looked her into her eyes.

"I mean, okay. Kiss me."

Damon's lips found hers then trailed their way between the valley of her breasts and to the edge of her underwear. He hooked a finger into each side and pulled them down. He was about to trail his tongue further down when she pulled him up.

"Can we just do it already?"

He smiled at her. "Yeah, of course."

Damon leaned over her to grab a condom out of his wallet. He rid himself of his boxers and rolled it over his length carefully.

"Ready?" he asked as he hovered over her.

Elena closed her eyes. "Ready."

He slowly inched into her, giving her time to adjust little by little. Elena was thankful for this, because although she hadn't gotten a good look at what he was working with, she could already tell it was much bigger than what she was used to.

"Are you, are you okay?" he gritted out, clearly trying to maintain his self-control.

She opened her eyes and met his. There were still so cerulean and mesmerizing. More importantly, they made her want to trust him. "I'm okay."

Damon took this as an okay for him to start moving. He began slowly, testing out different angles and speeds. Whenever Elena responded, he'd keep doing that for a little while. She'd never been with someone who cared so much about whether she was enjoying it before.

As her moans intensified, so did Damon's motions. She was breathing his name over and over again as his thrusts became more erratic. He spilled into the condom and collapsed on top of her.

After a few minutes, Damon rolled off of Elena. "Bathroom?" he asked.

"Straight across the hall," she replied as she tried to catch her breath. That had been the single most amazing sexual experience of her life and she barely knew this man.

Damon wrapped a blanket around himself as he quietly padded out of her bedroom.

Once the door shut and Elena was alone, she pulled the covers over her body and draped her arm across her eyes. She was officially properly fucked. So that's what Bonnie and Caroline had been raving about all this time.

Just as she was about to pass out, she felt the bed dip next to her as Damon laid down.

"You didn't finish, did you?"

"Oh, you don't have, I mean, I don't normally-" she stuttered out.

"You've never had an orgasm before?" he asked, genuine shock in his voice.

"Well with myself, but never with anyone else." She blushed. This was kind of an uncomfortable topic from someone she just met.

"Not acceptable."

Damon dove under the covers and she felt his warm breath tickle her inner thighs.

"Seriously, Damon. It's okay. You don't have to-" Her words were cut off with a gasp as his tongue made slow and languid contact with her apex.

She reached her hands down and ran her fingers through his hair. Her back arched off of the bed. Damon was far from the first guy to ever go down on her, but it had never actually felt this pleasurable before. It had always felt nice, pleasant even; but it had never actually rendered her speechless until now.

The small circles his tongue was making were sending her close to the edge already. Her added two fingers to help her along and she was gone. Her toes curled up, her legs straightened, and her hands flew from his head to grip the covers instead.

If nothing else came out of this hook up, at least one thing did. Elena realized that an orgasm feels so much better when someone else gives it to you.

"Elena?" Damon whispered as his head popped out from underneath the comforter.

"Hm?" She pulled the covers around herself as her eyes started to feel heavy with sleep.

"Whoever told you that you weren't very good at this shit, they seriously lied to you."

With that, Elena finally dozed off for the night.

* * *

Elena rolled over and the sunlight hit her directly in her eyes. It was too bright in her bedroom. She needed better curtains. Thankfully, the sunlight allowed her to get a last look at the gorgeous naked man lying beside of her in her bed. He was sleeping peacefully.

What was the protocol for the morning after a one night stand? Was she supposed to wake him up?

She didn't have to debate it much further because his eyelids fluttered open just as she shifted to get out of bed and find some clothes.

"Hey you," she breathed as she pulled the t-shirt over her head. She threw some yoga pants on as well.

"What time is it?" he asked her, rather curtly.

Elena reached for her phone out of her discarded clutch, but it was dead. She'd been a little too preoccupied last night to remember to charge it. "Um, I don't know. Do you have somewhere you need to be?"

"I've got a meeting I have to go to," he gritted out as he started searching for his clothes.

"But its Sunday."

"Yeah, and I'm an important person."

Why was he being so terse with her? This wasn't how he was behaving last night. He'd been so funny and kind. Now he was acting, well he was acting a lot like someone else that she was all too familiar with. Someone she was trying like hell to pry out of her life.

Elena stood there motionless as he went about getting dressed. She wasn't really sure what to say.

Damon pulled his black shirt over his head. "Oh don't tell me you're going to be one of the clingy ones. I thought someone with your sass would for sure understand how this worked. We had a mutually beneficial sexual encounter. Let's just leave it at that."

She still didn't say anything to him, but her eyes started to prick with tears. She may have been out of the game for a while now, but she wasn't stupid. He'd played her. He pretended to be the nice guy, when he was actually just an asshole the whole time.

"Are you catatonic or something?" he asked her after he slipped his shoes on. "Look, Elena. This was fun. You're really hot so thank you for the good time last night. I don't do relationships. I don't-"

"I wasn't looking for a relationship," she finally said. "I just thought you were a good person."

"There's no good or bad people. There's only people. I just happen to be a person who appreciates sex, especially sex with beautiful women such as yourself. I also happen to know that said women appreciate the fantasy. The good looking rich guy with a heart of gold is the ideal fantasy so I give that to them for the night." Damon shrugged his leather jacket on.

"You're a liar," she bite out while she wiped traitorous tears with the back of her hand. She'd been so vulnerable with him last night and he didn't deserve that. She hadn't felt this used in such a long time, at least not by anyone else but her ex-boyfriend.

"Not a liar. Just a really good pretender, sweetheart," Damon slammed her bedroom door behind him.

Elena was left alone in her bedroom and the angry tears started to fall. If this was what a one night stand was like, she was never planning on having one again.

A few minutes later, she heard a light knock on her door. Elena took a couple deep breaths in and wiped her tears away. "Come in," she said.

Caroline peaked her head through the door as she cracked it open. "My head feels like it's being hit repeatedly with a sledgehammer."

Elena nodded in response and Caroline must have noticed her red eyes because she walked in and offered her a hug.

"Hey. Hey, what's wrong? What happened?"

"He played me. He's an ass." Elena accepted the warm embrace and rested her head on Caroline's shoulder. "He was so nice to me last night. So nice that it was too good to be true, but he was a completely different person this morning. I might as well have been sleeping with the same person I always sleep with."

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have urged you to hook up with him, Elena. I thought he was a good guy too. He fooled me too."

"At least I never have to see him again," Elena added.

Caroline nodded her head. "That's fortunate for him because I'm pretty sure I'd kick his ass if he ever stepped foot in your vicinity again."

"That is why I love you."

A loud banging interrupted their hug and Elena ran downstairs to figure out where it was coming from. The banging was so loud that the floors were vibrating beneath her feet as she approached the front door. She crept up to the door and was about to look through the small peephole to see who it was that was causing the banging. Her heart pounding in her chest as she did so because she had a feeling she already knew who it was.

"Who is it?" Caroline called out as she came down the stairs.

"Elena! I know you're in there! Open this door or so help me I will break it down!"

Elena stopped dead in her tracks. She didn't need to look to see who it was. She knew that voice very well. She knew that tone very well. He was here and he was pissed.

* * *

 **A/N: And that is our first chapter! Let me know what you all think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I loved your reviews last chapter and I loved seeing some familiar names from my TPL readers. I also love that you guys are following this story and putting it on your faves already! Thank you!**

 **I haven't watched last night's TVD yet, but I am told that it will piss me off so I'm looking forward to that (not).**

 **Longer author's note at the end because those are kind of my thing.**

* * *

 **Let's sit back and watch the bed burn**

Caroline placed a reassuring hand on Elena's shoulder. "I'm right here."

Elena nodded as the pounding on the door persisted.

"You know I'll kick this door in!" he screamed.

"Can you wait upstairs? I feel like I can calm him down, but I don't want anyone else in the way," Elena whispered to Caroline.

"Like hell am I leaving you alone with him."

"Elena!" His voice was getting impossibly louder.

"Please, Care," Elena pleaded. "I can handle this. I'll yell if I need you."

Caroline contemplated it for a few seconds. "Fine. But the minute I feel like you aren't safe, I'm coming down here with a baseball bat and swinging at him until he leaves."

Once Caroline hesitantly disappeared upstairs, Elena placed her hand on the door knob. She took a deep breath and calmly spoke. "I'm going to open the door now. Can you please stop hitting it?"

The banging abruptly ended and Elena turned the handle. As she slowly began to pull the door open, he pushed it open the rest of the way and barged into the house.

"You're not answering your phone!" he yelled at her.

Elena noticed that his eyes were bloodshot and his cheeks were tinged a pinkish color. He'd been drinking. It was barely ten in the morning and he'd been drinking. He already had such an anger problem and it was even worse when he drank. God, she hated it when he drank.

"I forgot to charge it last night." She stared down at her feet, really trying to avoid an argument. She was exhausted of fighting with him.

"Well maybe you could have called me on Caroline's since she clearly had her phone to post this." He tossed his phone to her harshly.

Elena caught the phone in her hands. He'd pulled up Instagram and there she was posed in a photo with Caroline, Enzo, and Damon. Her head was resting on Damon's shoulder as he pulled her closer by her waist. They were all smiling and seemingly having a good time. She'd been such a fool to not see through it.

"Want to tell me who the fuck that guy is?" he spat. "We end a three year relationship and it only takes you three months before you're crawling over some guy in a club! I bet you fucked him too, didn't you? Of course you did. Figures that you'd open your legs to the next guy who shows any interest in you."

She hung her head and continued to stare at the screen. She really hated it when he talked to her like this, but she had to let him get it out or else he wouldn't give her a chance to speak. She'd been fighting with him long enough to know this.

"I thought we were supposed to be working things out!" he yelled at her as he snatched the phone from her hands. "Apparently you and I have very different definitions of what that means."

"I'm sorry," she apologized and the memory of Damon telling her to stop apologizing for everything came to her mind.

"You damn well better be sorry."

She looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. She shouldn't have to take this anymore. "You know what, Kai? I'm actually not sorry because we aren't together and we haven't been for three months."

"That's not what you were saying to me when you were screaming my name three nights ago," he scoffed, no longer yelling at her.

"If I remember correctly, you were quick to remind me of it when I asked you what you were doing out with April last week."

She knew she'd caught him in one of his infamous double standards. Kai could always do as he pleased, but he would freak out if Elena ever so much as studied with a male classmate.

"Look, you're drunk. Let me get you some water, okay?" Her tone softened as she watched him sit down on the couch. He was calming down, like she knew he would eventually.

As soon as she entered the kitchen and was no longer in his sight, she let the tears fall. Kai would never actually hit her, but he was a master as using his words to hurt her. Sometimes he'd say things that would dig so deep, they'd leave permanent scars on her heart.

She grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water then sat it on the counter as she tried to catch her breath and wipe back the tears. She didn't want him to know that his words cut so deep so she was determined to pull herself together before going back out there.

"I'm sorry I flipped out on you. I don't have any claim over you and I know that. I'm just still so in love with you, Elena."

She heard his voice before she felt his hands wrap around her waist from behind. He rested his chin on her shoulder and the familiarity of the embrace was almost enough to comfort her. How odd was it that the very person who upset her was now the person who could make her feel better?

"If it makes you feel better, I won't be seeing him again," she breathed out. "He was an ass."

Kai planted a sloppy kiss on Elena's neck. This was so typical of him. He always wanted to have sex with her after a huge fight. Elena wasn't sure if it was some weird power trip thing or maybe it was the adrenaline. Either way, Kai got off on conflict. He breathed it.

None of that changed the fact that Elena needed to end this cycle and she needed to do it now. Hell, she needed to do it months ago.

"Kai, we can't. Not anymore." She freed herself from his grip and picked up the glass of water from the counter.

"So you'll turn me down, but not him?" Kai was clearly offended and it became evident to Elena that he was really just trying to mark his territory, a grown man having a pissing contest with a guy she'd never even see again.

"You're drunk. Please just have some water," she deflected, holding the glass out towards him.

"Kai, you need to leave. Now." True to her words, Caroline was standing in the doorway of the kitchen armed with a baseball bat. She'd probably never even swung a baseball bat before, but Elena wasn't doubting that she'd try it now.

"Elena wants me here. Don't you, sweetheart?" Kai replied, looking at Elena to back him up like she always did.

"Can we please talk more when you've sobered up?" Elena asked. She was trying to keep her voice neutral.

"Hello? I knocked on the door, but no one answered and it was unlocked?" Damon's voice sounded from the living room. Of fucking course he'd show up now.

Elena took a deep breath, deliberately ignored the angered expression on Kai's face, and brushed past Caroline into the living room. "Why are you here?"

"Believe me. I had no intention of coming back, but I think I left my wallet in your room," Damon replied.

Elena noticed that he'd showered and changed since she'd last seen him. He was even wearing a suit, a very nice suit at that. Maybe he hadn't been lying about having a meeting this morning.

"Is this him? Is this the guy?" Kai questioned as he stalked out of the kitchen.

"Kai, leave!" Caroline yelled at him.

He completely ignored her and walked directly up to Damon until they were nose to nose. "Fucking my girl once wasn't enough, huh?"

Damon squared his shoulders and stood a little taller, towering over Kai by a few inches. "Well maybe it wasn't enough for her considering you can't even make her come."

"I should beat your ass right now," Kai mumbled. "Get blood all over that nice expensive suit."

"I'd like to see you try," Damon bit out.

"Will you two just stop?" Elena yelled, interrupting their stare down.

Both of their heads snapped over to look at her with Caroline standing behind her for support.

"Damon, please go get your wallet and get out so I never have to see you again. Kai, we'll talk later when you're sober. Please leave." Elena tried her best to stand tall as she ordered them around.

"There's that sassy spirit," Damon smirked before running off up the staircase.

She turned her attention back to Kai. "We're not going to get anywhere with you like this. Please?"

Kai balled his fists at his sides and looked around the living room for a moment. Without another word, he headed out the front door and slammed it behind him.

"Oh don't tell me your guard dog left," Damon remarked as he descended the staircase. "Things were just about to get fun."

"Did you find your wallet?" Elena replied, an annoyed tone in her voice. This was officially the morning from hell.

Damon held it up in his hand and waved it back and forth.

"Good. You can leave now." Elena tried to usher him outside of the house.

"Misery loves company, Elena."

"What?"

Damon stood in the doorway, one foot inside of the house and one out. "I'm just saying, you were so offended that I pretended to care about you when you lied to me too. At least I don't have a girlfriend that you don't know about."

"He isn't my boyfriend anymore." Elena crossed her arms, not even sure why she felt the need to explain herself.

"Could have fooled me." Damon shrugged.

Elena didn't answer. She wasn't in the mood for banter with a person she couldn't stand to be around. Instead, she slammed the door in his face. If she never saw Damon Salvatore again, that would still be too soon.

* * *

By the time Bonnie came home from church, Elena and Caroline were two wine bottles deep.

"What did I miss?" Bonnie asked as she hung her car keys on the key rack by the door. She could tell Elena had been crying and Caroline was in her well-known protective mode, her arm firming wrapped around Elena's shoulders as they sat on the couch.

Elena proceeded to spill it all to Bonnie over another bottle of wine. The amazing evening with Damon followed by the terrible morning, Kai showing up, Damon showing up again. All of it.

"Elena, I'm sorry again for posting that picture. I must have hit the post button on accident before I put my phone back in my purse. I honestly didn't mean to. I deleted it now." Caroline rubbed soothing circles on her back.

"It's okay. The damage is done now and it isn't your fault. It's mine for ever getting involved with Kai. I'm so stupid."

"Elena, don't beat yourself up about it. Kai was so nice in the beginning. We all really liked him when we first met him," Bonnie comforted her.

"He wasn't always like this," Elena shook her head. "He used to be really kind. I guess I have a thing for turning men into assholes. Same thing happened with Damon."

"Listen to me," Caroline said as she took Elena's face in her hands. "You are not the reason. Men are such dicks. They just are. I mean I've been hooking up with Tyler for six months and he still hasn't asked me to be his girlfriend. So if you're stupid for falling in love with Kai, then what does that make me?"

Elena smiled.

"Exactly. I am not stupid and neither are you," Caroline reassured her.

"Let's get you both out of this house for a little while and end the sulking," Bonnie said, standing up from the couch.

"Easy for you to say when you're perfectly happy with Elena's little brother," Caroline teased.

"Jer isn't exactly little anymore," Bonnie reminded her. "He's kind of an adult now too."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Ugh. I know. Don't remind me."

The three of them passed the day away with a trip to the lake. It was unusually hot for April in Virginia this year and though the water wasn't cold enough to play in yet, the sunshine felt warm on Elena's face as they lounged on the picnic benches next to the water.

"I needed this, Bonnie. Thank you," Elena pulled her sunglasses down from her nose.

Bonnie flipped through a textbook for a class she had a test in the next day. "No problem. Sometimes it's nice to just get away for a little while."

"Should I call Tyler?" Caroline asked them. "I think I should call him."

"No. No boy talk right now. Let's just pretend we live in a world without boys for a little bit, okay?" Elena beseeched.

"Fine by me." Caroline flipped her hair. "I could use a break too."

* * *

As Elena stumbled into her Principles of Finance class ten minutes late on Monday morning, she slid quietly into a desk in the back of the room. Thankfully, she'd still beat Professor Saltzman here so she wouldn't be counted late.

Kai had been waiting for her when she pulled into the parking lot this morning, armed with a vanilla latte for her and an apology for how he acted yesterday. He was almost so predictable that it had become comical at this point. It was their cycle. He'd act like a dick to her, then come back with what really felt like a sincere apology, she would forgive him, they would sleep together, and then the cycle would start over.

She was more reluctant to accept his apology than usual, which is what caused her to be late for class. Finally after him physically getting down on his knees in front of her, she relented and agreed that she would come over to study with him after she was done with classes. Elena was naïve. She knew what studying really meant, but she couldn't say no to him when he was quite literally groveling at her feet.

It wasn't like Professor Saltzman to be this late to class. He had a pretty laid back classroom in general, but he was a stickler for being on time. That was basically his only rule.

A woman that Elena recognized as the dean of the business school walked into the front of the classroom and cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "Good morning everyone. Professor Saltzman's wife went into labor a little earlier than expected so he will be on paternity leave for the next month. He asked me to let you all know that the baby is doing great, a healthy baby girl named Olivia. His wife lost a lot of blood so she is in ICU. We'll keep you updated when we know more."

Elena made a mental note to send an email to Professor Saltzman offering her help. He'd always been so nice to her, even granting her a couple deadline extensions on her assignments when things with Kai spiraled too out of control last semester.

"I think you all will be really excited to learn who will be subbing in for him while he's gone," the dean added. "Damon Salvatore is a good friend and a large donor to this university. He's known Professor Saltzman for a very long time as well and is doing this as a personal favor to him. Please treat him with the same respect during his time here that you would treat any other faculty member."

Elena watched as the last person she wanted to see in the entire world walked into her classroom. This had to be the most awful one night stand in the history of the world. How was she supposed to survive a whole month like this? She was already too far into this class to drop it and she really needed to take it now to graduate on time. She was stuck with him every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning for the next month.

"Thanks, Adele," Damon charmed the dean. "I'm really grateful for the opportunity to take some of my real-world experience and adapt it to the classroom."

The dean laughed and blushed a bit and Elena rolled her eyes. Damon was quite the Romeo. Oh, if only everyone knew what he really was like.

"Well, Mr. Salvatore I will leave them in your capable hands." She walked out of the classroom and shut the door behind her.

Damon rubbed his hands together as he surveyed the seated students. God, he looked delicious. Why did he have to be such an asshole? "Well, looks like it's just us for the next hour. Feel free to call me Damon. Mr. Salvatore makes me feel old."

Elena sunk down in her chair and drew doodles on the cover of her notebook, hoping to avoid his gaze. Since she was hidden in the back, maybe he wouldn't notice her. Maybe she could even get through the next month by flying under the radar.

"Now who can tell me the difference between a sole proprietorship, a partnership, and a corporation?" All hopes of hiding in the back of the classroom shattered as Damon called on her. "You in the back hiding your face? Can you tell me?"

Elena looked up at him and she could tell by his expression that he was definitely not expecting to see her here. "A sole proprietorship is owned by an individual who maintains all assets and liabilities. A partnerships occurs when two or more persons come together as co-owners. A corporation legally functions separate and apart from its owners or shareholders. Corporation can sue, be sued, purchase, sell, and own property. Owners can dictate direction and policies of the corporation, oftentimes through elected board of directors."

She recited this directly from her textbook. Academics always came easy for Elena, luckily.

Damon was clearly caught off guard at how well-versed she already was. "Very, very good Miss-"

Of course he didn't remember her last name. That would imply that he actually gave a shit. Elena rolled her eyes. "Gilbert. Elena Gilbert."

"Yes. Very good Miss Gilbert." Damon smirked at her.

Thankfully, he didn't call on her for the rest of class and Elena spent it taking notes while pretending that Damon was actually anyone but himself. That's how she was going to have to get through this next month. She'd just pretend he was Justin Timberlake or something.

Damon dismissed the class. "Miss Gilbert, can you stay behind for a few minutes?"

That was actually the last thing Elena wanted to do. She'd rather chew off her own arm than have to be in a room alone with him again.

"I didn't know you were a Finance major," Damon said to her as the classroom cleared of everyone else.

"Yeah well, you didn't ask while you were busy pretending to care about me." Elena focused her eyes on the clock on the wall instead of on him. So far she'd seen Damon in a black t-shirt, a business suit, and now a button-up shirt with no tie. All three looks suited him, but she didn't want to be caught checking him out. He was already smug enough.

"I promise not to give you any preferential treatment. I'm a professional, Elena. I'll be fair."

"Thanks," Elena scoffed.

"So your boyfriend," Damon began.

Elena's eyes snapped to him and she noticed that he had his hands shoved into his pockets while he casually leaned on the desk behind him. "He isn't my boyfriend anymore."

"Right. Well whoever he is, he's a little intense. Probably not a good guy for you to be around," he remarked.

"And you care because?" Elena licked her lips. She was trying not to focus on how good he smelled.

"No reason. Just an observation."

"Can I go now, professor?" She sarcastically drew out the last word.

"Yeah, you can go."

Elena grabbed her backpack and darted from the classroom as quickly as her feet would carry her.

The rest of her classes passed by quickly for the rest of the day and soon she was back to her car, shoving her keys in to unlock her car door.

"Hey! Elena! Bonnie gave me a ride this morning because my car was acting us. She has to stay late for club stuff. Can you give me a ride to the frat house? Tyler's expecting me." Caroline caught up to her quickly, panting a little from the sprint she did to Elena's car.

Elena gave her a stern look that said more than any words she could possibly form would. Tyler and Caroline had been hooking up for months now, but he dodged the conversation every time she tried to bring up any kind of relationship talk. Caroline was normally a really strong girl, but she just could not seem to let Tyler go.

"Don't give me that look. A girl has needs!" Caroline climbed into the passenger seat of Elena's car.

"It'd be pretty hypocritical of me to judge you too much. I told Kai I'd come over to help him study for Biology." Elena made a couple turns until they landed themselves on Greek Row.

"Do you want to borrow my baseball bat?" Caroline asked.

Elena laughed as she pulled in front of the fraternity house where Tyler lived.

"I'm completely serious!" Caroline added.

"I know you are. That's the funny part of it."

"So do you want to borrow it?" Caroline opened the passenger side door and started to get out of the car.

"No, I think I'll be okay. I can handle Kai."

"Suit yourself. Don't wait up!" Caroline bounced up the front steps of the house and let herself in.

* * *

"How was your day?" Kai asked as he sat on his bed with his Biology textbook on his lap.

Elena had chosen to sit in his desk chair. She wanted to avoid winding up in bed with Kai if at all possible. "You're supposed to be studying. How am I going to quiz you if you don't know the chapter?"

Kai closed the textbook and looked up at her. "Humor me with a little conversation first? It's been a long time since we've just talked."

"My day was fine." She wasn't about to tell him about her finance class debacle. That would just start another argument with him demanding that she drop the class and there was no way that was happening.

"Just fine?"

"Yeah, just fine."

"You sure nothing out of the ordinary happened?" Kai prodded.

"Why are you acting so strange?" she asked.

"Oh, no reason." Kai shrugged. "I just thought you might want to share with me that the guy you're fucking is teaching your finance class now. Just thought you might want to mention that."

His tone was detached and cool, but Elena knew better. On the inside, Kai was boiling.

"I'm not fucking him. It was just one time," Elena bit back.

"So you say, but we all know how important your grades are to you. What a perfect opportunity to fuck yourself an A plus. Well, maybe an A minus. You aren't exactly the greatest lay, let's be real here." Kai stood up from his bed and walked over to her. He loomed over her.

"How dare you say that, Kai? You know that I have earned every grade that I've ever gotten! I've worked hard to get where I am!" Elena protested.

"I want you to drop the class." Kai's voice was cold and serious. His eyes were so intent that it almost scared her.

Elena had made a lot of sacrifices for Kai over the years, but this was one thing she would not budge on. She was not about to let him jeopardize her academic career over some petty jealousy. "I'm not going to do that."

"You're mine, Elena. He doesn't get to touch you anymore."

"We aren't back together, Malakai. Now please stop or I will leave."

"Yet. We aren't back together yet," Kai muttered under his breath as he sat back down on his bed and picked up his textbook.

* * *

 **A/N: Kudos to reader Imagination Run Wild for suggesting Kai as Elena's ex-boyfriend. I actually hadn't decided who I wanted it to be yet, but Kai actually really fits the character. So thank you!**

 **I want to say that Elena and Kai have a VERY unhealthy and dysfunctional non-relationship. He is emotionally manipulative and sometimes downright verbally abusive. It will probably only get worse before it gets better (IE she and Damon finally fall in love), so if this kind of relationship is triggering to you then I'm not sure you should read on any further in this story.**

 **I think I'm realizing as I am writing this that part of this story is coming from personal experiences with exes of my own. I am lucky enough to have a really great husband now (married almost 2 years!), but I wasn't always so fortunate and I had to deal with my fair share of possessive assholes before I found him. I hope none of you ever have to go through that, but if you have or are currently please stay strong and know you are not alone. I am always available to talk to you via PM. I've been through it and came out on the other side still alive. You will too.**

 **On a happier note - Let me know how you all are liking the fic so far. I love theories. I love suggestions. I love it all!**


	3. Chapter 3A

**A/N: I am pretty sure I received two of the most in-depth reviews ever on the last chapter from Imagination Run Wild and winterbabyalways (which made me so happy!).**

 **Thank you to everyone who has left feedback so far. It's been great to know that you all are enjoying this story as much as I enjoy writing it.**

 **Now let's get to the story here, shall we?**

* * *

 **You ought to know where I'm coming from**

After her finance class ended on Wednesday morning, Elena gathered her things and started to leave. She had just enough time to make it to the library and work on a research paper before her next class. If she hurried, she might even have time to eat a little something.

"Hey, you left this."

She felt a hand wrap around her wrist as she stepped into the hallway. She turned around to see Damon handing her notebook to her. He'd called on her a few times in class today, but no more than anyone else. Of course she'd known the answers to every question he asked, but she didn't really raise her hand. She was hoping to be as invisible as possible for the duration of him teaching her class.

"Thanks. This has my entire life in it. I don't know what I'd do if I lost it." Elena grabbed the notebook from him and held it to her chest.

Damon smiled at her. "You know, in the interest of professionalism, it would be wrong if I didn't tell you that you remind me a lot of myself when I was a student here. I think you'll go places, Elena. Have you considered an internship? That's what really helped me when I was in my junior year."

"Uh, thanks but no. I'm on scholarship so I don't really have time for an internship. I can't afford to let my grades slip."

"Oh," Damon nodded his head as if he understood.

Kai walked up to them in that moment and harshly grabbed her upper arm. "Elena, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Not right now, Kai. I'm busy."

"Yes. Now." He tugged her away from Damon and she didn't have much choice except to follow him.

"He was flirting with you," Kai muttered to her once they were no longer in Damon's earshot.

"Trust me. He is not interested."

"Trust me.," he pressed. "I think I know when a guy is flirting."

Elena wanted to roll her eyes, but she knew that would only frustrate Kai even more. "I don't have time for this. I have to get to the library, okay?"

Kai released her arm. "Yeah, yeah. Alright. I'll see you tonight again? Studying and all?"

Elena nodded her head. She was doing her damnedest to maintain some level of decorum with Kai right now. Damon was still just a few feet away and she could feel him watching them.

"Good. I'll pick you up from your place around six." He tried to place a possessive kiss on her lips, but she dodged it and gave him her cheek instead. Huffing under his breath, Kai stormed off down the hallway.

"I'm sorry about that," Elena said as she turned around and walked back towards Damon.

"Why do you let him talk to you like that?" Damon asked her.

"Things are complicated with us. Kai is a good guy deep down and he loves me. He wasn't always like this and I'm trying to give him a chance to be the person I know he can be again."

"People will be who they want to be and that's not necessarily always the best person they can be." Damon's expression looked pained as he said this, as if he was conjuring up a wounding memory of his own.

"Yeah," she simply answered and the two of them stood in the hallway for a few moments, she with her notebook pressed against her chest and him with his hands nervously shoved into his pockets.

Students brushed past them as Elena tried her best to not let the way he was looking at her go to her head. He wasn't the type of guy to get involved romantically with, not that she was even in the position to do so with someone. She couldn't even seem to sort out where she stood with Kai, let alone think about bringing someone else into that dynamic. Even if she could, Damon wasn't exactly clamoring to take her out on a proper date or anything.

"Well, I should get going. I have a paper that will not write itself." Elena realized she'd been nervously chewing on her bottom lip and it was starting to hurt.

Damon cleared his throat. "By all means, Miss Gilbert Do not let me stop true academia from happening."

* * *

As usual, Kai was late to pick her up. Elena had been sitting downstairs with her shoes on and backpack beside of her for an hour while she waited on him to show up. The house was empty since Bonnie was at the library and Caroline was on a date.

The silence as she waited made the time pass by extremely slow, but Elena knew it had for sure been an hour because she'd checked the time incessantly. Typical Kai, he was never where he said he would be but he never failed to show up when she was trying to avoid him.

"I, uh, I grabbed these on my way here." Kai shoved a bouquet of roses into Elena's arms after she opened the front door.

Elena hated roses. They were so stereotypical. At least the thought counted, since he was already an hour late. She put them in a vase of water on the kitchen table and then came back into the living room to pick up her backpack.

"Oh, you don't need that. We're going out."

"Kai, you said we were going to study. I'm trying to help you with bio. Don't you want to pass?" Elena slung the bag over her shoulder.

"I thought maybe you could use a break, a night out even. Dinner and some drinks? You deserve it, Elena. You work really hard all of the time."

It became apparent that Kai never had any intention of studying tonight. Elena knew this had probably been his plan all along because she never would have agreed to hang out with him if she'd known he was treating it as some kind of date.

"You lied to me," she said, realizing that he'd manipulated her again.

"You're saying you're not hungry?"

"I'm saying you deliberately gave me wrong information to convince me to spend time with you." Elena crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Kai reached out to caress her cheek, but she flinched in response.

"C'mon babe. It'll be nice and I'll bring you straight home afterwards. I promise. We used to go out on dates all the time."

"That's because we were dating," Elena pointed out. "That's kind of the point. We were dating and now we aren't and if you want to take me out on a date, you need to ask me properly and not try to trick me into something I don't want to do."

"Is this about Salvatore?" Kai asked, a disgusted look on his face. "I fucking knew it. I knew you guys were having a thing."

"We are not having a thing," Elena shot back.

"Sure seems like it."

"What kind of person do you want to be, Malaki?" Elena breathed out, stepping away from him and sitting on the couch.

"The kind that takes you out on a date?" Kai cluelessly answered, sitting down beside of her and resting his hand on her knee. "I'm not really sure what you're asking me here, sweetheart."

"Never mind. Let's just grab some pizza, okay?" Elena relented. She was actually really hungry and he promised to bring her straight home afterwards.

Kai's face lit up with a smile. "Really?"

"Yes, really."

About thirty minutes later, they were eating greasy pepperoni pizza off of paper plates at Elizabeth's Pizza. Once upon a time, this was their regular Friday night date spot. That seemed like ages ago.

"Have you given any thought to dropping your finance class?" he casually mentioned before taking a bite of his pizza.

"I thought we agreed that I wouldn't drop it."

"I thought we left it open for discussion."

Elena set her pizza onto her plate and wiped her hands on the napkin in front of her. "I'm staying in the class. I need it to graduate on time."

"You can't retake it over the summer?"

"I'm over halfway through. I don't want to retake it."

Kai took a sip of his soda. "Sounds to me like you don't want us to work things out."

"Why do the two options have to be mutually exclusive?" Elena sighed. They'd only been sitting in this restaurant for a few minutes and he was already starting another fight.

"Because you are my girl, Elena. I don't want to share you with some pretty boy investment banker rich kid. I'm not asking anymore. I'm telling. You're dropping the class."

"I'm not."

"You are or you can find your own way back home." Kai's voice was starting to get a little louder, but not to the point of yelling yet.

"You'd seriously leave me here? We're miles away from my house."

"Don't consider it a threat. Consider it to be incentive," he callously stated before he took the last bite of his crust, wiping his hands on his napkin. He stood up and grabbed his car keys out of his back pocket. "Well Elena? What will it be?"

Elena started to cry, not answering him. How could he be so awful to her and still claim that he loved her? How could he demand this of her?

Kai threw some cash down on the table to pay for their meal. "Well how about this? I'll give you some time to think it over. If you call me back and tell me that you'll drop the class, I'll come get you?"

She watched as he walked out of the pizza place, got into his car, and drove away. After that, Elena sat there for about five minutes feeling sorry for herself. She should have never even agreed to be here with him. She should have known he'd use it as an opportunity to manipulate her.

Thankfully, she had some really wonderful roommates who'd be happy to come pick her up. She called Bonnie first, but she didn't answer. Then she called Caroline.

"Elena, can Caroline call you back?" A British voice answered the phone. This was definitely not Caroline and most certainly not Tyler.

"Um, who is this and where is Caroline?"

"Lorenzo. You don't remember me, doll?" Of course she remembered him, but why did he have Caroline's phone? Where was Caroline?

"Can you please put Caroline on the phone? Now?" Elena would have to figure out what was going on with this situation a little later, once she wasn't stranded in downtown by herself.

She heard Caroline giggle. "Sorry about that. I was distracted and he grabbed my phone. You're on speaker, by the way." Caroline giggled again. "Enzo, Enzo stop it for a second."

"Can you please come pick me up? Kai left me stranded at Elizabeth's Pizza."

"That bastard!" Caroline cursed. "Oh shit! Elena I'm at Enzo's house and I've been drinking. I don't know if I can drive. Let me see if I can call Bonnie."

She heard rustling on the other end of the line and she could only assume Caroline was rushing around and trying to figure out how to rescue Elena.

"Bonnie isn't answering. It's okay, Caroline. I can take a cab."

"No, no. Stay right there. Enzo is calling Damon to come get you." Caroline ordered her.

Why did she keep having to see Damon when she was at her most vulnerable? It was like the universe was playing some kind of cruel joke on her. "Seriously. I'd rather take a cab than ride with him. That is the only way this evening could get any worse."

"He's already on his way," Caroline answered. "Just hang tight for a couple of minutes."

"Ugh, fine." Elena hung up the phone then sat at the table by herself while she waited. She passed the time by ripping up her paper napkin into tiny pieces.

"You making confetti?" Damon's warm voice filled the air and she looked up to find him standing in the doorway of the restaurant. "What kind of party you throwing?"

She smiled a little at him. She thought he'd be a dick to her, but he was actually trying to cheer her up.

"I think I'm throwing a pity party," she answered as he sat down at the table across from her.

"Am I invited?" he asked, leaning into her.

"The whole point in a pity party is that it's for one person." She continued to rip the napkin into smaller pieces on her empty plate.

"Well whenever you're done throwing your party, I'd like to take you out for a drink. You look like you could use it."

He was being uncharacteristically sympathetic to her and she couldn't help but wonder if it was sincere or not. "Are you trying to sleep with me again? That ship has sailed so you don't need to be nice to me just because you think it'll help you get into my paints."

"I was trying to be nice to you because you look like you had a really shitty evening and could use a drink," he responded, standing up. "But I can just drive you home instead."

"I actually could use a drink," she answered as she stood up too.

"I know a bar close to here." He held out his hand to her.

Elena stared at him in confusion for a moment, but he didn't retract his hand. She slipped hers into his and he squeezed it lightly with his fingers before leading her out of the restaurant. He opened the passenger side door of the Camaro for her and closed it behind her after she was safely inside.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked, putting the car in drive.

"Can we talk about anything else, actually?" Elena didn't want to dwell on her own stupidity. She couldn't keep giving Kai chance after chance, but she also couldn't bring herself to completely cut him out of her life yet.

"Sure. I'm lecturing on the corporate capital structure on Friday. There's going to be a pop quiz beforehand so make sure you do the reading," Damon said as he clicked his turn signal on.

"What happened to no preferential treatment?" Elena quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I mean, you've probably already done the reading so is it really that preferential?" He smirked at her.

They pulled into the parking lot of a dive bar and Elena started to reach for her own door handle, but Damon was pulling open the car door for her before she could open it herself.

"Cranberry and vodka?" he asked her when they sat down on their bar stools.

Elena nodded her head, impressed that he remembered her order.

He sipped his straight bourbon while she looked around at the dated décor. This place was definitely not somewhere she thought someone as wealthy as Damon would hang out.

"I know what you're thinking, but I found this place when I was a student at NYU and I never stopped coming here. Gloria over there makes the best old fashions in town."

"It's hard for me think about you actually being a student," she teased. "That must have been forever ago."

"Hey! I'm not that old!" he mocked offense.

Elena laughed and took another long sip from her drink. "I think I want to talk about it now."

"I'm all ears," he said as he shifted to get comfortable on his bar stool.

"Kai wants me to drop the class because of you and I'm not going to do it."

"So he left you stranded in downtown alone?" Damon's tone was shocked.

She nodded, staring down at her drink.

"That's not the kind of thing you do when you love someone, Elena."

"And how would you know what it's like to love someone?" she defensively snapped. Who was he to tell her that Kai didn't love her?

"Because I've loved someone before, truly loved someone. She didn't love me though." He took a sip of his drink. "That's why I'm a no strings attached kind of guy now. I'm not interested in loving someone anymore. I don't need those kind of complications in my life."

"So that's it then? You just let some girl walk in and damage you forever?"

Damon slammed the rest of his bourbon back. "She wasn't just some girl. I was going to marry her and then I caught her fucking my brother."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh."

Elena awkwardly sipped her drink, not sure what else to say to him after he confessed that to her.

"You ready for me to take you home?" he asked her as she slurped the last of it down.

"Yes, please." She fished around in her purse for her wallet to pay for her drink, but Damon placed a hand on her arm.

"I got this," he said as he took out his wallet and threw some money onto the counter.

"Thank you." She was about to take her hand out of her purse, when she noticed she hadn't felt her keys in there. "Fuck," she muttered.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't find my keys. I must have left them in the house."

"Can someone let you inside?" Damon questioned as he ushered her outside and into his car.

"No one else is home right now." Elena began to nervously chew on her fingernails.

Damon sighed. "You can stay at my place tonight."

"Are you sure?"

"Elena, I'm not going to leave you out here on the street. I have a spare bedroom you can sleep in."

"Thank you." She relaxed into the passenger seat as Damon began to navigate the streets. "You're being very nice to me tonight. It's unexpected."

"I kind of like being around you, actually. Which is kind of unexpected too."

Elena felt a giddy sensation in her stomach. She tried to tell herself it wasn't butterflies. It couldn't be butterflies. She wouldn't allow it to be butterflies.

They pulled up to an apartment building on Park Avenue. Of course he lived on Park Avenue. Why wouldn't he live on Park Avenue?

"I feel like you might have been understating your apartment when you casually mentioned that you had a spare bedroom," Elena said as they rode the elevator to the top floor of the building.

He didn't answer, only slyly smiling at her. The air in the elevator seemed thick to her and his scent overwhelmed her nostrils. He was being so kind. He smelled so amazing. He looked so handsome. She almost let herself fall for it again, but she reminded herself that he wasn't the kind of guy who you could let yourself fall for.

"There's a couple guest bedrooms down that hallway that you can choose from," he said as he kicked his boots off at the door and pointed.

"Thank you." She took off her shoes as well and began to look around. The apartment was nice, lacking in a bit of warmth and hominess, but nice and incredibly clean.

"It's still a little early. I could put on a movie and pour a couple glasses of wine if you want?"

"Sure." She sat down on the black couch and waited for him to bring her a glass of red wine. She moaned when she tasted it because it was so damn smooth. "This is amazing. What is it?"

"1983 Pinot Noir," he answered.

"Well that explains it. I get excited when I snag a 2010 from the grocery store."

Damon chuckled as he sat down next to her. There was a whole long couch. Why did he choose to sit so incredibly close to her? "Can I be honest with you Elena?"

"Um, sure." She nervously took another sip of wine.

"I really like spending time with you," he admitted. "You're incredibly driven and smart, which keeps me on my toes. You're sassy in all of the right ways and it makes me laugh. I could use a little more laughter in my life."

"Are you hitting on me?" she interrupted. "Because if you are, it would a waste for both us."

He laughed, a real laugh. "See? That's what I mean. I want us to be friends, Elena. I think we could be really good friends."

"Oh, so you're friendzoning me?" she lifted the wine glass to her mouth and took far too large of a drink. So large that she finished what was left, placing her glass down on the coffee table in front of her.

"Believe me, I enjoyed the sex we had too. I just don't mix sex with friendship. It's a rule of mine and I would very much like to be your friend. So, friends?" He set his wine glass down on the table and held out his hand for her to shake.

"Friends," she answered confidently as she shook his hand.

They looked into each other's eyes for a second and Damon moved a little closer to her ever so slowly. He cupped her cheek with his hand and she leaned into his touch.

"Friends," he whispered as his lips neared hers.

"Friends," she breathed back to him.

Damon lightly pressed his lips against hers and warmth spread from her lips all the way to her toes.

* * *

 **A/N: I am so mean for ending it there and I'm sorry. This chapter is a little short, still decently long but shorter than my usual updates. I'm swamped at work, but I wanted to get this out there to you all!**


	4. Chapter 3B

**A/N: This is really just Chapter 3B. If you didn't read the last update (from earlier this morning) make sure you do that!**

 **I wanted to stop writing and do some work today, but my hands wouldn't let me!**

* * *

 **That secret that we know that we don't know how to tell**

Damon's hands slid their way up the back of Elena's shirt and the contact of his hands on her bare skin made her whimper. She allowed his tongue to enter her mouth and he pulled her impossibly closer.

Her head felt heavy from the pleasure. Who knew that kisses could be this good? She'd heard about kisses that could take away your breath before, but that's all they had ever been. Just kisses that she heard about.

He pulled away from her, his breathing uneven and labored. Elena opened her eyes and looked at him, speechless from what had just happened.

"Friends aren't supposed to kiss like that," she said. "Friends aren't supposed to kiss period, but especially not like that."

"And we are friends," he acknowledged, still with lusty eyes.

"Well I don't just want this to be a sex thing," she scooted away from him a little. They were still so close and it was difficult for her to think when he was looking at her like that.

"Well I don't think I can do both," he confessed. "So let's just be friends."

"Right." Elena cleared her throat and straightened out of her disheveled shirt. "Damon, as your completely platonic friend, I feel compelled to tell that that was some of the best wine I have ever tasted."

"Is this your way of asking me for another glass?" He took both empty glasses into his hand, holding them by the stems between his fingers.

"I mean, if you're offering."

He smiled at her. "I guess I am."

"Then I guess I'll take a glass."

Once Damon went into the kitchen, Elena took her phone out of her purse. Bonnie had tried to call her back, but she'd missed it. She typed out a quick text to let her know that she was okay and would be home in the morning. She could've asked Bonnie to come pick her up, but she was enjoying getting to know Damon, even though it was taking every ounce of self-restraint so had not to pounce on top of him.

Her phone screen lit up with Kai's name and picture as it started to ring. He was finally calling her. Over two hours after he'd left her stranded, he was calling her. She hit ignore, but then he called again. She hit ignore again and he called her back. He'd do this all night if she didn't answer, but she just put her phone on silent and slid it back into her purse instead of appeasing him.

"Thanks," she said as Damon handed her another glass of wine. She involuntarily moaned again as she took a sip.

"Don't do that if you want to be friends," he said.

"Do what?" she asked.

"Moan whenever you drink something you like. It's this thing that you probably don't even realize you do, but you do it every time you take a drink of good wine or liquor."

Elena blushed at his comment.

Damon took a drink from his own glass. "Oh, don't be embarrassed. It's adorably sexy, which is why you can't do it. I'm a strong-willed man, but I'm not a saint. Hearing you make that sound does things to me."

"So, completely platonic friend, tell me how it is that you managed to snag such a prime piece of real estate? Park Avenue apartments don't come easily." Elena tried to steer the topic away from anything sexual.

"Believe it or not, I used to live in Brooklyn. Loved it there, but it was a long commute to the office. When I got engaged, well, she wanted to live on Park Avenue and I made it happen." Bringing her up still clearly upset him and Elena wondered just how deeply this other woman had wounded him. "So when I found her here in bed with my brother, she got to keep him and I got to keep this apartment."

"You two don't speak anymore?" Elena asked him.

"Who? My brother and I?"

She nodded.

"Stefan and I were never exactly close, but no. We don't speak at all anymore. It's been two years." Damon polished off his glass of wine. "I'm going to get another. Do you want another?"

Elena looked down at her mostly untouched glass. She'd been listening so intently to him that she'd barely taken a sip. "I'm okay for now."

"I'll just grab a bottle. Be right back."

Elena took the opportunity to peek at her phone again when he left the room. She had seventeen missed calls from Kai. No voicemails or texts, thankfully. Just missed calls. The phone screen lit up and she could see he was calling again.

"Do you need to make a phone call? Your friends probably want to know that you're alright." Damon refill his empty glass and placed a bottle of wine onto the coffee table.

"Yeah, maybe." She was still so angry at Kai that maybe now was the time she could end things with him once and for all. Maybe she would be able to let him have it, finally.

"If you want some privacy, the balcony has a really cool view of the East River," he told her as he gestured to a tall set of French doors.

She nodded and stepped outside, her phone in one hand and her wine glass in the other. Almost immediately after she shut the door, Kai began to call her again.

"Hello?"

"Fucking finally. I've been calling you non-stop. I'm standing outside of your house and no one is home. Where are you, Elena?" His voice was laced with anger.

"At a friend's house," she vaguely answered, not allowing his tone to intimidate her.

"I'm coming to get you. Give me directions."

"No."

"What do you mean no? Tell me where you are."

Elena took a deep breath and a sip of wine. "I mean, no. I'm fine where I am. Please do not ever call me again, Kai. Lose my number. Forget we ever had a thing. Forget I even exist."

"But Elena, I love you." Kai's tone immediately softened. "Are you saying that you don't love me anymore?"

"I didn't say that," she sighed.

"Then why would you want to leave me? I'm trying to be better for you. I really am. Please don't give up on me. I'm sorry I lost control of my temper earlier. I'm so sorry. Please just tell me where you are so I can make it up to you." He sounded like he was starting to cry.

Elena's tears began to well up, try as she might to push them back down. She and Kai had a lot of memories together, a lot of good memories. Sure the most recent memories weren't great, but maybe they could be again. They had three years of history together and that wasn't something she could just give up on.

"I love you but I can't tell you where I am right now," she answered, partially giving in. She couldn't tell him she was with Damon, let alone where Damon lived.

Damon peeked his outside to check on her. "Elena, are you okay out here? I know it's probably getting chilly. I can bring you a jacket."

Kai clearly could hear Damon's voice. "Is that who I think it is?"

"He picked me up from Elizabeth's. We're just friends, Kai." Elena was quick to defend.

"So that's why you won't let me come pick you up? You're trying to protect him, is that it?" Kai prodded.

"No, Kai. That's not-"

"Save it. Elena." Kai interrupted. "I can't trust a damn thing you say anymore. So now is your turn to listen to me carefully. When I see him again, and trust me I will see him again, I am going to rearrange that pretty boy face of his so that you won't even recognize him. Do you understand? Do you hear what I'm saying?"

"Elena, I think you should hang up the phone," Damon gently pressed her, realizing that she was about to start crying.

"I can't," she whispered to him.

Kai had begun yelling a list of expletives in her ear, but Elena couldn't understand them. All she could hear was how angry and terrifying he sounded. She dropped her wine glass and shards littered the floor of the balcony while the red wine went all over her shirt and jeans.

"Don't move. I'm going to put some shoes on and I will come get you, okay?" Damon calmly explained to her.

Elena nodded her head at Damon, the phone still pressed to her ear. "Kai, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I have to go."

She shakily brought the phone away from her face and ended the call then looked down at the broken glass around her bare feet. She was trembling, partially from the cool night air, partially from the fear of cutting her feet, but mostly from the wrath of the man she once thought was the love of her life.

"Okay. You're okay," Damon soothed as he stepped out onto the balcony in his boots. He picked her up easily, sweeping her legs under one arm and supporting her back with the other. She could hear the glass crunch as he walked across and set her down just inside of the doorway.

Once she was safely inside, Elena collapsed onto the floor in tears.

"Whoa, whoa." It took Damon a minute to take off his boots, but he was at her side before she knew it. "You're going to be okay."

"For the first time," she gasped for air. In between broken sobs, she tried to finish her words. "Tonight was the first time I was ever truly afraid of what he might do."

"Elena, you're safe here." He wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"I'm not afraid for me. I'm afraid for you."

"Me? Elena I can handle myself. Don't be afraid for me." Damon pulled away so that he could look into her eyes.

"I think it would be safer for you if we weren't friends," she stated, her tears finally calming down and allowing her to speak clearly.

"No one gets to tell me who to be friends with," he lightly joked. "Especially sassy college students who know more about finance than most of the people that work for me. Okay?"

"Okay."

"How are your feet? Do you have any cuts from the glass outside?" he asked as his hand traveled down to examine them.

She pulled her feet away from his touch. "Please don't tell me you have a foot fetish."

Damon scoffed. "Hardly, though I do have to say that you have beautiful feet as far as feet go."

"You totally have a foot thing!" she teased as she stood up.

"I think that's enough excitement for one night, don't you? We don't need to delve into fetishes right now too."

Elena yawned. He was right. It was getting kind of late and she was sure he had to work tomorrow, not to mention she had to figure out a way back to her apartment in the morning.

"I'm sure you don't want to sleep in those clothes. You can borrow some of mine. They'll swallow you, but at least they'll be clean and dry.." Damon stood up and made his way down a hallway.

Elena followed after him until he got to a bedroom door that she assumed was his. She waited outside. For some reason, she didn't feel right following him in there. He came back out and handed her a pile of clean clothes.

"My favorite guest room is that one," he said as he pointed to a door directly across from his room.

She raised an eyebrow. "Sure it is."

"I mean, have your pick but I'm telling you that one is the best."

"I'll take your word on that," she replied, heading for the guest room. "Goodnight, Damon."

"Goodnight, Elena."

Elena watched as Damon walked back out into the hallway. "You aren't going to bed too?"

"Right after I sweep up all of that glass," he said over his shoulder.

Oh fuck. She'd forgotten. "Let me help!"

He turned around the block her path as she tried to catch up to him. "You'd help me by getting some sleep, okay?" he said lowly.

The way he was towering over her made her pulse quicken. Friends didn't look at each other how he was looking at her right now, which was like he wanted to rip off all of her clothes and press her up against the wall.

"You sure I can't help?" She swallowed even though her throat had gone dry.

"Positive." He brought a hand up and grazed his thumb just below her lips. It looked like he was thinking about kissing her again and for all she knew, he might have been.

She couldn't let him though. Friends. She wanted to get to know Damon. She loved when he was light and airy with her, joking and laughing. She also wanted learn from him. He had so much knowledge that he could share with her. He'd made it very clear that they could not have both, so she stepped backwards a few steps to ease the tension. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

She closed the door to the guest bedroom and surveyed the clothes he'd handed her, a pair of gray NYU sweatpants and a plain black tshirt. She took her stained and wet clothes off then slipped his on. Damn, they smelled like him. This wasn't fair to her.

He was right. It really was a very nice bedroom. The bed was plush and the ample amount of pillows on it made her feel like she was sleeping on a cloud. Still, she was restless as she laid there in the darkness for over twenty minutes.

Surely Damon had gone to his bedroom now. She could sneak into the kitchen and get a glass of water to help calm her nerves. She peaked her head out through the cracked bedroom door. It was dark and she couldn't hear any movement. She tiptoed down the hallway and into the dimly lit empty living room. As she was about to move to the kitchen, she passed one room with a light on and the door cracked. Not meaning to eavesdrop, she heard Damon's voice coming from the room.

"See what you can find out about the kid," Damon said in a hushed tone. "He's probably just some kid, but I don't want him to hurt her."

There was a pause and Elena assumed whoever he was speaking with on the phone said something,

"She's different, Elijah. I care about her."

* * *

 **A/N: Lots of emotions! But Damon! cares! about! Elena!  
That's a start, right?**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Fun fact for you – Chris Wood (the actor who played Kai) and I went to the same university. He graduated two years ahead of me.**

 **Also I'm churning out updates for this fic quicker than you can say LICKEDLY SPLIT! It's all because of your amazing reviews. 3**

* * *

 **Then there's you screaming say something**

Elena's nostrils filled with the smell of breakfast. It had been so long since she'd had a proper breakfast; college students were notorious for eating like shit, but that didn't mean she'd forgotten what it smelled like. She remembered it quite well actually.

She padded into the kitchen, still dressed in Damon's oversized tshirt and sweatpants. The hardwood floors were chilly under her bare feet. She rounded the corner and saw him standing over the stove flipping a couple of pancakes. He was whistling, carefree and happy.

She cleared her throat to get his attention and he turned around.

"I didn't know what you liked so I made a little bit of everything," he said as he gestured to the spread of food on the countertops. Bacon, eggs, pancakes, and French toast were all arranged onto plates beside a large French press of hot coffee.

"Normally just black coffee. I don't eat much in the mornings," Elena said as she took a seat on a barstool and rested her elbows on the countertop in front of her.

"You're staring at me," Damon pointed out as he poured a cup of coffee and set it down for her.

"You cook," she stated. "Of course you cook."

"What's that supposed to mean exactly?" He was dressed in his suit for work, save for his tie and suit jacket with a kitchen towel thrown over his shoulder. He stood on the other side of the counter, took a sip of his own coffee, and then bit into a piece of bacon.

Elena shook her head. "Nothing."

She tried hard not to think about what she overheard last night as she sat there and looked at his impossibly blue eyes. He actually cared about her. It was refreshing to have someone other than her roommates and her brother care about her in that way. Still, she couldn't let that change anything. They were friends. Platonic friends. Platonic friends who just happened to be insanely attracted to each other, but platonic friends none the less.

And now here he was dressed in his business suit standing in his Park Avenue penthouse cooking breakfast for her. She couldn't think about what he said last night because if she continued to think about it, she'd jump across the counter and attack his lips with her own.

Elena placed three of the fluffiest pancakes she'd ever seen onto her plate and she moaned as she took the first bite. She didn't realized she'd done it until it was too late and she looked up to see Damon staring right at her, looking like he was thinking about jumping across that counter himself.

"Sorry," she said, fork still partially in her mouth.

He just smirked at her and kept eating his own breakfast. "So," he began as he picked at his eggs with a fork, "I should probably get you home so you can change for class."

"I have a late morning start on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My first class isn't until noon." Elena shrugged. "But I'm sure you have important meetings to get to."

"Not until ten. Plenty of time to take you home first."

Elena finished up her pancakes and stood from her bar stool. "Well I'll just go change really quick then come back to help with dishes before we go."

"I've got the dishes and aren't your clothes covered in wine?"

"Yeah," she admitted.

Damon took her empty plate and rinsed it off in the sink before loading the dishwasher. "You can hang onto those clothes for now," he said casually.

"Thanks."

"You relax. Drink some more coffee while I finish getting dressed, okay?"

She nodded her head and he walked down the hallway to his bedroom. Coffee cup in hand, she walked down the hallway to the guest bedroom so she could grab her purse. She stuffed her clothes into the oversized bag and walked back towards the living room, but not before catching a glimpse into Damon's bedroom.

He was standing in front of the mirror tying a red tie around his neck expertly. His nimble fingers made quick work on the knot and Elena remembered exactly how skilled his hands could be. She scurried into the living room before he could catch her staring again.

"Okay, ready when you are." Damon emerged from the hallway with his suit jacket on.

"Ready," Elena replied as she slipped her shoes on.

As Damon started up the car, he looked over to Elena.

"I'm going to leave him for good, you know. I'm going to end this whole thing. I tried last night but I couldn't do it. Now I can." She said it so seriously, no inflection in her voice at all, as she stared out the car window at the passing buildings.

"For what it's worth, I'm proud of you." He placed his hand on her knee and squeezed lightly.

Elena knew the gesture wasn't truly friendly, but she couldn't bring herself to care in the moment.

The rest of the drive to Elena's house was mostly filled with witty banter between the two of them. It was easy conversation, not boggled down with talk of heartbreak and exes. For the majority of the morning, Elena allowed herself to forget that Kai existed and she didn't feel empty in the slightest from that decision. He could never let her be happy too long though, not unless that happiness came directly from him. That was Kai's nature.

She looked down to her phone and saw that Caroline was calling her. She answered smiling. "Hey Care."

"Elena, are you on your way home?" Caroline asked,.

"Yeah. Damon's driving me home now, why? What's going on?' Elena's tone turned concerned and she saw Damon glance over in her direction to check on her.

"Kai was at the house when I left this morning," Caroline replied. "He was sitting outside on the front porch. I'm not sure if he's still there."

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Door is locked so he can't get inside and I left with my trusty baseball bat in my hands. I just wanted you to be aware of what you're coming home to."

Elena nodded, even though she knew Caroline couldn't see her. "Thank you."

"Be careful. I think he's been drinking again," Caroline warned.

"I will. Thank you." Elena shot Damon an apologetic glare as she hung up the phone. She didn't want to get him involved in this again.

"What's going on?" Damon asked as he turned into Elena's neighborhood.

"I think you can probably drop me off here," she said. "Here's fine. Stop here."

Damon continued to drive towards Elena's house. "We're three blocks away."

"Damon, Kai is there and I don't want him to hurt you."

"I have eight years, six inches, and thirty pounds on the kid. I think I'll be okay." Damon rolled his eyes. "I'm dropping you off at your house. Caroline made me promise her last night that I would get you home safely come hell or high-water. Now Caroline, her I am afraid of."

"Fine, but please don't get out of the car."

Damon didn't make any promises to her as he turned into her driveway. The second the car tires touched the gravel, Kai's head shot up from where he was sitting on the front porch. His eyes were bloodshot and he'd clearly been racking his fingers through his hair. Elena watched as Kai stood up and balled his fists at his sides. He took the couple of steps down from the front porch and onto the grass of the front lawn.

Elena unbuckled her seatbelt and placed her hand on the car door handle as Damon put the Camaro in park. Kai immediately stalked towards the car, forcefully opened the passenger side door, and grabbed Elena by the arm to pull her out.

"Kai stop!" she yelled at him as he yanked her from the passenger seat. "Malakai, you're drunk and you're hurting my arm! You're hurting me!"

"You're wearing his fucking clothes?" Kai yelled at her. "Are you kidding me?"

Before Elena could tell what was happening, Damon roughly shoved Kai off of her and placed a protective arm around her shoulders. "We need to get you inside," he whispered to her.

"Get your hands off of my girl, rich kid!" Kai forcefully removed Damon's arm from around her shoulders. "I hope you enjoyed your time with him last night Elena because that'll be the last you see of him."

Damon stepped defensively in front of Elena. "I'm taking her inside," he reiterated.

"You're not taking her anywhere. She needs to see me beat your ass so she understands that it's her fault," Kai gritted out.

"Malaki Parker, right?" Damon asked, smirking at him. "You grew up in the Bronx? Must have been tough for a scrawny little kid like you. I bet you got bullied a lot. Is that why you like to push Elena around?"

"You don't know me." Kai took a step towards Damon, but Damon stood his ground.

"Damon, please just get in the car. I can handle him. I don't want you to get hurt," Elena pleaded as she placed a hand on Damon's shoulder.

Kai peeked around Damon to look at his her. "Nah, Elena. He won't back down. He think he's better than me." He shot his eyes back to Damon. "Don't you, Salvatore?"

"Elena, let's get you inside first." Damon turned his attention away from Kai and back to Elena.

Kai took the opportunity to ball up his fist and strike Damon in the jaw. It was a sucker punch in every sense of the word. Damon was so distracted with getting Elena inside safely that he didn't see it coming. Maybe it he had, he could have blocked it. Maybe he was perfectly capable of defending himself against Kai, but none of that mattered to Elena. The sight of one punch to Damon's face was enough for her. She knew she had to intervene.

"Kai, stop! Let him leave. Let him leave and we can work this out. I still love you, don't you still love me? Can you forgive me?" Elena pulled away from Damon and wrapped her arms around Kai's neck.

"What are you doing?" Damon questioned.

"I want to be with him," she lied, turning around to look at Damon. "Haven't you ever loved someone before?"

"Yes and it destroyed me." Damon look long strides to the Camaro, slammed the car door, and backed out of her driveway.

* * *

"No staying after class to ask questions, no talking to him outside of class, no looking at him for too long during class…" Kai was running through his list of conditions that it would take to let Elena continue in her finance class for next three weeks while Damon was teaching it.

She sat on her bed as she watched him pace back and forth and pretended to listen to him, but she was zoning out. All she could think about was the dejected look Damon gave her when she told him she wanted to be with Kai. It wasn't true of course, but she would have said anything to protect Damon in that moment.

"Elena? Are you listening to me?" Kai asked her. "It's important that you're listening closely so you know what I'm expecting of you. If we're trying this relationship again, we need to do it right."

"I heard you," she replied.

"Good." He sat down next to her on the bed and leaned into her. "Now that we're back together again, can I finally kiss you?"

That was the last thing she wanted; but if she was going to protect Damon, she needed to let him. She slowly nodded her head and Kai aggressively pressed his lips against hers. She felt nothing. No sparks, no warmth, nothing.

His hands began to wander underneath the black tshirt she was still wearing and Elena winced. She didn't want to allow him to touch her body like this anymore. He hadn't earned that right in a very long time.

Kai pulled away from her, a disgusted look on his face. "God, you smell like that pretentious asshole. Go take a shower. I'll see you on campus after class."

He slammed the door to her bedroom and she heard him rush down the stairs. Once she heard the front door close, Elena began to cry. She'd lost a great friend today, a new friend but a great friend. All she wanted to do was make sure Damon was okay, but she didn't even have his number to call him. Some friend she was.

"Elena? Are you okay? I heard you crying as soon as I came inside. Was that Kai pulling out of the driveway?" Bonnie's tender voice filled the room as she sat down on Elena's bed.

Elena couldn't tell Bonnie any of it this time and thankfully, she didn't ask right away. Instead, Elena simply laid her head in Bonnie's lap and cried it out until her tears ducts were empty.

About an hour later after she'd pulled herself together and taken a shower, Elena came downstairs with her backpack slung over her shoulder. Bonnie was sitting on the couch with a carton of ice cream, watching daytime soaps.

"I'm off to class" Elena announced. She'd already missed her first class of the day because she was sulking. She couldn't afford to miss another.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Bonnie asked, her mouth full of Cherry Garcia.

"Nothing to talk about. Kai and I are giving it one last shot," she responded, sounding a little detached. She knew if she told Bonnie what was really going on, she'd try to talk Elena out of it. She didn't want to be talked out of it.

"And that translates to tears how?" Bonnie pried.

"I was just overwhelmed, Bonnie. I'm fine now, I swear." Elena planted a kiss on the top of Bonnie's head and walked out the front door of her house. Once she was outside and could feel the spring air on her face, she allowed herself to breath.

Even if Damon never spoke to her again, at least she'd know he was okay. It was that thought that kept her from crying during her drive to campus and again during her next two classes.

* * *

Much to Elena's dismay, she slept over at Kai's. They'd fooled around a little, but she managed to convince them that having sex would mean more if they waited a little bit before they started again. She wondered how long she'd be able to hold him off before she had to give in. She was going to try for as long as possible.

After everything that happened yesterday, it was safe to say that she had no more interest in being with Kai. She didn't want to make him a better person. She didn't care if he ended up alone anymore. She didn't need him in her life. Mentally, she was done. The trouble was, it didn't matter what Elena wanted. It was about what had to be done.

As she woke up Thursday morning in his bed, Kai had his arm thrown possessively on top of her. She really wanted to sneak away without waking him. Ever so slowly, she lifted his arm off of her. He didn't seem to notice, still in a deep sleep. She timidly got out of the bed. Just as her hand was on the doorknob and she thought she may have escaped unnoticed, she heard his voice.

"I'll drive you to class today."

Elena didn't look back towards him. "Oh, that's okay. I know you don't have any Friday classes and my car is here so I can drive myself."

"I'm driving you," he said sternly and she knew there was no use arguing with him over it.

"Thank you." She tried to sound grateful as she quietly closed his bedroom door and made her way across the hall to the bathroom.

Kai took Elena by her house on the way to campus so she could change into clean jeans and a top. He waited outside in his car, mumbling something about not wanting to have to deal with seeing her roommates. As she got back into the passenger seat of his car, he turned the music up loudly and started to drive her to campus.

"Could you turn that down please?" Elena asked him.

"It helps me not think about how you're about to be in a room with this guy." Kai made a quick right turn and it caused Elena to lean into the door a little.

"You're going kind of fast."

"Damn, Elena. Anything else you want criticize or are you done bitching?" he snapped.

She didn't try to make further conversation with him for the rest of the car ride, choosing instead to take out her notebook and try to brush up on the corporate capital structure for Damon's pop quiz. He was right. She'd already done the reading well before he said anything about it, but a little refresher couldn't hurt.

"Remember my conditions," Kai warned as Elena stepped out of his car.

She nodded her head before trampling up the steps on the business school and into the classroom.

"Miss Gilbert, you're late," Damon bit out. "Have a seat."

Elena took her seat in the back of the classroom and glanced at the time on her phone. She wasn't that late, only by a minute, and other students were still filing in behind her. He didn't chastise any of them.

"Let's hope you all did your reading," Damon began as he grabbed a stack of papers out of his leather bag. "Pop quiz on the corporate capital structure." He began passing out the quizzes as a few students groaned.

It took a while for them to get passed all the way back to Elena, but she still finished before anyone else. She brought her quiz to the front to hand in.

"Thank you." Damon was deeply interested in a legal pad that was in front of him, or more so it seemed he was deeply interested in not looking at her.

"Can we talk?" she whispered to him.

He didn't look up. "Not now," he whispered back.

"After class?" she quietly asked him.

Damon nodded his head so she went back to her seat and waited on everyone else to finish their quizzes.

"Alright everyone." Damon leaned on the desk in front of the class with his arms crossed over his chest. The flexed muscles in his arms were visible through the black button-up shirt he had on. Thankfully, Kai's punch hadn't done any noticeable damage to his face. "Who can define capital structure?"

Elena raised her hand, but he didn't call on her.

"Anyone else?" he asked, looking around the room. No one else had their hand raised.

"It's a mix of a company's long-term debt, specific short-term debt, common equity, and preferred equity," Elena blurted out.

"Thank you, Elena. I thought we might give someone else a chance to speak today," he quipped to her.

Damon ran through the slides on his lecture presentation, stopping along the way to ask questions to the class. Even though she knew the answers, Elena didn't bother raising her hand again. Damon assigned the reading for over the weekend and began to pack up his things as he dismissed the class. He slung his messenger bag over his shoulder and was about to walk out of the classroom, when Elena blocked his path.

"You said we could talk after class," she said quietly, since the students were still leaving the classroom.

"That was so you would leave me alone." He tried to brush past her, but Elena moved with him. "I think you're right. I don't think it's a good idea if we're friends after all."

"Damon, can I please just explain? I'm trying to protect you." Elena rushed after him as he tried to dart out into the hallway.

Damon spun around to look at her, the first time he'd truly done so since she'd walked into the classroom. "I don't need to be protected from your boyfriend. I can handle myself. Stop with the self-sacrificing shtick, Elena. You were trying to save him, now you're trying to save me. When will you save yourself?"

Elena stood there thinking of what she was supposed to say to that, but she never had a chance to form any words as she saw Kai coming down the hallway. She immediately backed away from Damon before he could spot her. It was one of his conditions and she had to abide by his conditions if she wanted to maintain the peace.

"Thought so," she vaguely heard Damon mutter under his breath as she walked away from him and towards Kai.

* * *

"Ladies, I am going on a date!" Caroline sang through the house that evening. "With Enzo!"

"So am I allowed to ask what's going on with that yet?" Elena asked as she followed her roommate upstairs and planted herself on Caroline's bed.

Caroline held up a red dress against herself and looked into her full-length mirror, dodging the question. "Should I wear this dress?"

"That's actually my dress," Bonnie interrupted, plopping down on the bed next to Elena. "But you can borrow it. Again."

"Thanks."

"So did you ask her what's going on with Enzo yet?" Bonnie asked Elena in a hushed tone.

"I did and she avoided my question," Elena responded.

"She can hear you," Caroline said as she walked over to her closet and flipped through the clothes that were hanging up. "And if we aren't allowed to talk about why Elena chose to forgive Kai, we most certainly cannot talk about how an incredibly sexy and successful British investment banker wants to take me out on a second date."

"Did you even know there was a first date?" Elena asked Bonnie.

"I feel like we were deliberately left out of that conversation," Bonnie answered.

"I wonder why. I have the nosiest, most concerned roommates on this planet." Caroline held a pair of wedges up. "These shoes?"

They both nodded their heads.

"It comes from a place of love," Elena added. "We're nosy because we love you."

"Hello pot. I am kettle," Caroline jokingly stuck her hand out for her fake introduction. "Nice to meet you. Good to see that we're both the same color."

"Well while you are out with your new favorite Englishmen, Elena and I will be curled up on the couch with Ben & Jerry and a Bravo marathon," Bonnie redirected. "So just think about all of the wonderful bonding time you'll be missing out on."

Elena looked away, intentionally not agreeing with Bonnie.

"Oh don't tell me you're bailing on me too?" Bonnie whined.

"Sorry your boyfriend goes to school three hours away. When is Jer coming to visit again anyway?" Caroline asked.

"Next month," Elena and Bonnie both replied at the same time.

"Well hopefully you'll have dumped Kai by then so he doesn't have to go all protective little brother on him again. Although that was kind of fun to watch last time." Caroline giggled as she stared in the mirror and tried to figure out what to do with her hair.

Her giddiness would have been annoying if Elena wasn't just so damned happy that she'd finally kicked Tyler to the curb. If only she could have been fortunate enough to do the same with Kai.

"So where should I plan to pick you up from when Kai leaves you stranded?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow at Elena.

Ignoring her question, Elena redirected. "I should be home by eleven. We're just going for some drinks at The Half Pint."

"Call me if you need me, okay?" Bonnie looked Elena directly in the eyes. She only did that when she wanted to make Elena knew she was serious.

"I will. I promise."

A little while later, dressed in jeans and her favorite dark green tank top, Elena tapped her foot as she waited on Kai to pick her up. He was late, of course. Why did she even bother being ready on time?

He finally honked his horn when he pulled into the driveway.

"Could he seriously not even come to the door?" Bonnie asked as she took a bite of Chunky Monkey from the carton.

"I'll be home by eleven," Elena repeated to her as she headed out the front door.

Kai rode with the windows down on the way to the bar and though the weather was starting to get warmer, it wasn't warm enough for that quite yet.

Elena rubbed her hands on her upper arms to create some warmth. "Could we maybe roll the windows up?"

"Why didn't you wear a sweater?"

"I didn't think I'd need one."

"Well clearly you were wrong," Kai huffed as he reached to the window control buttons and rolled them up. "Anything else I can do for you?"

She knew the question was sarcastic, but she chose to answer it anyway. "No thank you. I'm comfortable."

There was a deafening silence in the car and Elena sought to try to fill it with something. "I think I aced my quiz today," she coolly stated.

"For which class?" Kai asked as he pulled into the parking lot of The Half Pint.

"Principles of Finance," she answered.

"With Salvatore?" There oddly wasn't any malice in his voice. Elena supposed that Kai figured he had won so there wasn't anything further to be jealous about.

She nodded her head.

"That great." He played the part of being genuinely happy for her really well.

As they stood outside and waited for someone to check their IDs, Kai laced his fingers with Elena's. It was a gesture that he hadn't done in a really long time and she allowed herself to get lost in the familiarity of it for a brief moment.

The bar was loud and crowded, but Elena spotted a few people she recognized from her classes. She stood next to Kai at the bar as he ordered them a couple of drinks. He slid a bottle of cheap beer over to her and Elena took a sip of it. It was not at all what she wanted, but she faked a smile and pretended that she was satisfied with it.

"I see some of the guys from my English class. Let's go say hey." Kai tugged Elena through the crowd and towards a group of people she'd never seen before.

They all conversed with each other, never really once acknowledging that she was standing there so she started to zone out and people watch. If Kai wasn't going to pay any attention to her, she could certainly amuse herself.

There was the obvious group of frat bros who were clearly in a race to see who could throw up first from the number of shots they were knocking back. The poor sorority girls with them were trying to feed them water, but no one was really paying their advice any mind. There was the older couple who were on a date, clearly out of place in a college bar but too afraid to admit it. There was a bachelorette party dancing in the middle of the crowd, never mind that there wasn't an actual dance floor because they had made their own.

Then as if it was perfectly timed, as if it was something that would happen in a movie, the crowd parted and there was Damon with his arm slung around her classmate, Rose. Elena watched helplessly as Rose ruffled Damon's hair playfully. A smile escaped his lips in response and he leaned in to kiss her.

Elena knew one thing for sure. She was going to be sick.

* * *

 **A/N: No long Author's Note here. Just a thank you again to all of you for being so supportive! And a request to please not throw too many tomatoes at me or DE after reading this chapter!**

 **(Also please go listen to the new One Direction album. It's so good.) - That's my one and only shameless plug for Made in the AM. I swear it.**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Dearest readers, we're back with another chapter that picks up right where we left off. Sooooo much happens in this one (even if it is a little shorter than the last one.)**

* * *

 **In slow motion, the blast is beautiful**

Not bothering to properly excuse herself, Elena handed her beer to Kai. She pushed and shoved her way through the crowd and threw the door of the bar bathroom open. She slammed the stall door behind her and stood there trying to recover her breath. If she could focus on her breathing, maybe she wouldn't need to throw up.

Why was seeing Damon kissing someone else affecting her like this? They'd slept together once and he'd been a complete ass to her afterwards. He never even apologized for it. She couldn't have these kinds of feelings about him because he'd made it very clear that he couldn't have them about her. In fact, he couldn't have them about anyone anymore.

"Elena?" a calm voice spoke.

She looked down and she could see his sneakers through the crack at the bottom of the door. Elena leaned the back of her head against the closed stall door. "Kai, this is the women's bathroom. You can't be in here."

"I just wanted to check on you. Are you sick?" He was being unusually nice to her, uncharacteristically caring.

"I'm okay," she answered. She reached to unlock the door and opened it slightly, peaking her head out to look at him. "Not sick, just tired."

"Do you want me to take you home?" he asked and he sounded genuinely concerned.

"You'd do that?" she skeptically asked him.

Kai smiled at her. "Elena, I'm not a monster. If you're not up for being here right now, I can take you home. Come on out." He held out his hand to her.

She hesitantly took his hand and he laced their fingers together again, placing a light kiss on the back of her hand. It was the kind of thing he would have done three years ago when she first met him, but the entire exchange felt foreign to her now.

As he led her through the mass of crowded people, she spotted Damon and Rose again nuzzled up in a corner. Damon hadn't noticed she was there and she wasn't about to point it out to him. Despite this, Kai did notice her staring at them.

"Is that Salvatore?" he spoke into her ear, loud enough that she could hear him over the bar chatter.

Elena nodded her head and he stopped walking a few feet away from them. She was so busy paying attention to Rose whispering into Damon's ear that she didn't notice Kai stop until she ran into his shoulder.

"We should say hello. You'd probably want to say hello, right?" Just like that, his tone had reverted to the malicious and spiteful one she'd become more recently accustomed to.

"Oh no. That's okay. Let's just go home." Elena tried to feign apathy towards the whole situation, but she knew Kai could see right through her.

"Aw, c'mon. If I can be mature about this whole thing, can't you?" He hauled her by the hand toward the corner where Damon and Rose were sitting. It was in this moment that Elena vehemently regretted ever taking his hand in the first place.

"Kai, please. I just want to go home," she pleaded as they got closer.

Her protest made no difference. Soon they were standing in front of Damon and Rose. Damon looked up from kissing on Rose's neck for a moment to see Kai standing there. Elena crouched to hide behind him, trying to refrain from having to deal with this interaction. Kai wasn't having it and he tugged Elena to his side.

Damon withdrew his hands from Rose the moment he saw Elena. He snarled, stood up, and took a step towards Kai.

Kai finally let go of Elena's hand, putting his hands up protectively in front of him. "Relax, dude. We just wanted to say hello, didn't we Elena?"

Elena said nothing, giving Damon a despondent look instead. She felt an elbow nudge her in her ribs and she knew Kai wanted her to say something. She remained silent.

"Hi Elena. Didn't expect to see you here," Rose spoke, clearly ignorant to the melodrama that was taking place in front of her.

"Didn't know that you two were dating each other," Elena replied, trying her best to hide any tone of disapproval in her voice. She knew Kai was testing her to see how she would react.

"Oh, we aren't," Damon answered. "We were just grabbing some drinks before heading back to Rose's place. It's not a date." He looked directly at Elena when he spoke the next part. "I don't go on dates."

"Right. You just fuck girls who clearly don't belong to you," Kai mumbled.

"Elena belongs to no one," Damon spoke up. "She just hasn't realized it yet."

"I'm missing something here, aren't I?" Rose asked, looking between Damon and Elena. "You fucked her?"

"Can you not spread that around class? Please?" Elena pleaded with Rose, her cheeks turning red. She didn't want anyone to think that she wasn't earning her grades fair and square.

Before Rose could respond, Kai grabbed Elena's hand again. It wasn't tender like he'd done earlier in the night. This was purely a show of dominance. "Elena, we're leaving now."

Damon's nostrils flared, but he remained unmoving from where he was standing. "You don't need to go with him. I can take you home," he offered to Elena.

"But we're on a date," Rose tried to interrupt.

Damon turned to Rose. "I don't go on dates."

Kai pulled Elena away from Damon before she could even consider his offer. Once they were outside the bar and walking to his car, he scoffed. "Can you believe that asshole thought you'd go with him?"

Elena didn't answer. She didn't want to tell Kai that she'd actually considered it. Kai was being so cruel. He deliberately put her in a tense situation just because he knew it would make her uncomfortable. All the nice guy routine from earlier had gone out the window immediately when he saw her looking at Damon.

"You wanted to embarrass me," Elena said as she buckled her seatbelt in the car.

Kai put the car into drive and his fingers tightened on the steering wheel as he raised his voice. "Well if you really wanted to be with me and this thing with him really was nothing, that wouldn't have been embarrassing!"

"One of my classmates found out! She could tell everyone!" Elena screamed back at him.

"Maybe if you didn't sleep around behind my back, you wouldn't have to be worried about that!" His voice filled the car as he took a couple turns to get to Elena's house from The Half Pint.

"We weren't together," she whispered, fidgeting with her hands in her lap.

"We were together." Kai argued sternly. "We never stopped sleeping together. We never stopped loving each other. We were together, whether you want to admit it or not."

Elena said nothing in response, merely focusing her attention out the window as Kai navigated his way to her house. He knew the route by heart, though sometimes she wished she could just hide out from him at home without worrying that he would show up uninvited.

The car pulled into the driveway and he turned to look at her. "Do you have feelings for Salvatore?"

"No. Stop being a jealous asshole." Elena pushed the car door open and stepped out, slamming it shut behind her.

"Hey! Do not slam my car door!" Kai chased after her as she ran up the front stairs of her porch. "We weren't done talking!"

Elena spun around to face him. "We are done talking about this. I won't talk about it any further so stop asking, stop bringing it up, stop trying to test me to see if I'm lying. This conversation is permanently over."

He clearly did not like her boldness, as his eyebrows furrowed at her and a deep coldness appeared in his eyes. "I decide when conversations are over. You don't get to do that."

Elena rolled her eyes and turned around to let herself inside the house. She was praying that he wouldn't follow her in there. As she was preparing to slam the door in his face, Kai forced it back open and took heavy steps inside.

"Kai, get out! Get out now!" Elena yelled at him.

Bonnie came rushing down the stairs and into the living room, where Elena was trying to push Kai out of the front doorway. Kai stood his ground, even grabbing onto the doorframe to push back against her. He pushed back at her so hard that he knocked Elena onto the floor. She hit her head on the corner of an end table.

"Elena, are you okay?" Bonnie screamed. She took a couple hurried steps towards Elena.

"Please, Bonnie. Stay back. I don't want you to get hurt!" Elena begged, pressing her hand against the spot on her head that hit.

"I'm calling the police. I'll call the police!" Bonnie pulled her phone from the pocket of her pajama pants and dialed 911.

Kai stood over Elena, who was too afraid to move from the floor. This was the first time he'd ever been this physically forceful at her and he'd finally crossed a line that he could not come back from. In that moment, she was terrified.

"You're seriously going to let her call the cops on me? I'm just trying to have a conversation with you," Kai softly spoke, but the deceit of his soft tone was more disturbing than any yelling he'd done earlier. It was clear that he was now in self-preservation mode.

"They're on their way, asshole," Bonnie bit out, keeping her distance from him as Elena had requested.

"Malakai, please leave." Elena tried to reason with him in the way that only she could. "This doesn't have to end with you in handcuffs."

"Are you saying you'll let them arrest me?" He sounded almost hurt at the thought, his voice cracking slightly at the end.

"I'm saying that I'm scared of you and I don't want you in my house right now."

Kai began to pace around the living room, racking his fingers through his hair and mumbling to himself. There wasn't anything audible enough that Elena could make it out. After a few minutes of this, a police officer appeared in the still open doorway.

"Sir, can I ask you step outside with me?" the officer calmly asked Kai.

"I have a right to be here," Kai quietly muttered, still pacing frantically. "This is my girlfriend's house."

The officer looked down to Elena, who was still on the ground. "Ma'am, are you injured?"

Elena swallowed and shook her head no.

"Do you still need us to remove this man from your home?"

Shakily, Elena nodded her head yes.

The officer took a couple steps inside of the doorway. "Sir, I need you to come with me." He stepped towards Kai and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Elena watched as the officer roughly removed him through the front doorway. She could hear Kai screaming outside, most of it nonsense except for when he would repeat "I have a right to be here! This is my girlfriend's house!"

A younger officer entered the living once Kai was safely detained. He held his hand out to Elena, who timidly accepted it. Once she was to her feet, she noticed his name badge said Donovan.

"Ma'am, it's okay. What's your name?" Officer Donovan calmly asked her.

"Elena Gilbert."

Bonnie appeared at her side, taking Elena into a huge hug. "Are you sure you aren't hurt?"

"I'm okay," Elena reassured her.

"You fell pretty hard." Bonnie sympathetically stated.

"My partner called a paramedic to come and check you out just in case, Miss Gilbert. We need to take a statement from you. Would that be alright?" Officer Donovan shut the front door, finally drowning out Kai's yelling.

Elena nodded her head. Bonnie put her arm around her and ushered her to the couch. They both sat side by side.

"Can you call me Elena please? I prefer Elena," she nervously said to the officer.

He kneeled next to her. "Sure, Elena. If it makes you feel more comfortable, you can call me Matt."

She nodded.

"Elena, can you tell what happened tonight?" he kindly asked her, taking out a small notepad from his back pocket so he could jot down notes as she spoke.

"We were having a disagreement in the car on the way home from a bar. I tried to get away from him but he followed me into the house," she began.

"How much have you two had to drink?" Matt asked her.

"Oh, just a couple of beers. We aren't drunk. We left early."

"I see," Matt nodded as he scribbled some notes on his pad. "Is your boyfriend often violent like this when you two are having disagreements?"

Elena hesitated to answer. "He sometimes gets a little angry, but he's never been so physically aggressive before."

"He's been grabbing you a lot harder recently," Bonnie added.

"He doesn't mean to hurt me," Elena turned to Bonnie and shot her a look.

"Let's just think back to what happened tonight." Matt redirected the conversation. Clearly Bonnie and Elena had differing opinions on how violent Kai really was. "He followed you inside and then what happened?"

"I asked him to leave and he wouldn't so I tried to push him out. He pushed back against me and I fell onto the floor. I hit my head, but barely. I'm okay." Elena finished.

"And that's when you called 911?" Matt asked, turning to Bonnie.

Bonnie nodded her head. "The way he was looking at her, I was afraid for her life."

"Well you did the right thing, Miss-" he paused since he didn't know her name yet.

"Bonnie Bennett."

"You did the right thing, Miss Bennett." Matt nodded, standing up from where he was kneeling. "I'll need to get some contact information from both of you, but I don't think we'll need anything else. You've been very helpful."

They both nodded their heads.

"Elena, there's an ambulance outside. We just need to make sure you're not injured. Can you come outside with me?" Matt asked her.

She chewed nervously on her bottom lip as she stared at the front door.

"He's detained. My partner has him in the back of the car. He can't get to you." Matt's tone was reassuring.

Nodding her head, Elena followed him outside and to the awaiting ambulance. A very nice and very young paramedic was awaiting her. As he examined her, she noticed his name badge said Salvatore. It couldn't be a coincidence. He had to be related to Damon. How many other Salvatores could there be in this city? It wasn't like it was a common name.

"Do you know someone named Damon Salvatore?" she asked him as he was shining a light into her eyes.

"Uh, yeah. He's my brother," the paramedic answered uncomfortably.

"Oh."

"Tell me at any time if any of this hurts," he said as he lightly squeezed different places on her wrists and arms. "I'm checking for fractures or broken bones."

"I didn't fall that hard," Elena rolled her eyes.

"Better safe than sorry, right?" he smiled at her.

"I guess so."

Matt came over to her as the paramedic was finishing up examining her. "We'll hold him for 24 hours, Elena. If you want to press charges, you'll have that long to think about it. Here's my card. You call me if you decide you want to press charges, okay?"

Elena took the card from his hand and nodded her head.

"You're in good hands here with Stefan. He's great at his job." Matt looked over to a smiling Stefan. "He's saved a lot of lives."

"Thank you, Matt." She watched him nod his head and get into the passenger seat of the police car. No doubt they were taking Kai to the station.

"No headaches or dizziness? I know they said you hit your head," Stefan double checked.

"Honestly, I'm fine." Elena went to stand up from where she was sitting on the edge of the ambulance and wobbled a bit. She started to feel a ringing in her ears. As a wave of dizziness came on, Elena fell into Stefan a little. "You have kind eyes," she slurred to him. "Kind eyes like your brother."

"Whoa, whoa. Let's sit you back down." Stefan assisted her as she sat down where she was before. "Elena, can you hear me? Can you tell what you had for breakfast yesterday?"

"Pancakes, the most delicious pancakes." She smiled at the memory of such a happy moment.

"Good, good," Stefan said calmly.

Elena could hear Bonnie's voice, but she couldn't see her. "Is she going to be okay?"

"She has a mild concussion. It isn't life-threatening, but she needs to rest. She needs someone to stay with her for the next day or so as she recovers," Stefan spoke.

"I do not need a babysitter," Elena groaned. It was then that she realized she had her eyes closed. "Why am I so tired all of a sudden?"

"She didn't notice it before because her adrenaline was still pumping. Now that she's calmed down, her brain is starting to feel the effects of the trauma. There shouldn't be any long-term effects with a concussion this mild, but she will be confused for a few hours."

Elena felt herself drift off to sleep, her head rested against a shoulder she assumed was Bonnie's.

* * *

She woke up in the darkness of her own room, in her own bed, dressed in her comfortable pajamas, and covered with a blanket. As she sat up, she noticed a sleeping figure curled up in the chair across from her. "Bonnie?" she whispered.

Bonnie sat up. "You're awake? How are you feeling?"

"What happened?" she asked.

"You passed out. I had some help getting you upstairs," Bonnie answered.

Elena furrowed her brows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You had a mild concussion and you passed out. The paramedic said to let you sleep for a little bit. Damon was very insistent on helping me get you safely upstairs."

"Damon was here?" Elena tried not to sound too excited. If he came by, that had to mean something good for their friendship.

"Still is. He's asleep on the couch downstairs. He didn't want to leave until you woke up. Should I go tell him you're okay?" Bonnie responded.

"Can I see him?" Elena threw the covers off of herself and swung her feet to touch the floor. She started to stand, but her ears began to ring again.

"Slow down. You have to take things easy for the next couple of days. I'll send him up here, okay?"

Elena nodded her head and laid back down. She stared through the darkness and tried to make out the details of the ceiling above her.

"Elena?"

The minute she heard Damon's voice, her smile lit up. He was actually here. "You're here?"

"Yeah. After you left The Half Pint, something wasn't sitting right with me. I couldn't shake the feeling that something bad had happened." The bed dipped down as he sat next to her.

"I met your brother," she blurted out.

"Yes, you did."

There was a small moment of silence between them before she felt Damon's hand rest on hers.

"Can you lay with me?" Elena asked, unsure of how he'd respond.

"Happily," he breathed and it sounded like he was relieved that she'd offered.

She heard him shift and felt the warmth of his body next to hers. They weren't even touching, but she could feel the waves of heat coming from him.

"He's nice," she said.

"Hm?"

"Your brother is nice," she clarified.

"Most people seem to think so," Damon responded.

"You don't?"

Damon sucked in a deep breath. "Stefan is kind of," he paused, trying to regain his thoughts. "Life happens to Stefan. He isn't a very assertive person so when bad things happen in his life, he blames everyone but himself."

"Like when he slept with your fiancé?" Elena questioned.

"Yeah. If you ask him, it was all her fault. She came onto him and while I don't doubt that that's true, he could have stopped her."

"Maybe he tried," she reasoned.

"He didn't."

"You want to talk about something else, don't you?" she smirked, sensing the tinge of frustration in his voice.

"Please. Anything," he pleaded.

"This is my first head trauma," she said nonchalantly. "Does that make me a badass now that I've survived a head injury?"

"No," he answered succinctly.

"Not even a little?"

"What it makes you Elena, is naïve for thinking that he wouldn't eventually put your life in danger," Damon bit out to her. "I don't think you realize how badly this could have ended."

"But I'm going to be okay," she added.

"Thankfully, yes."

"Are you still mad at me for trying to protect you?" Elena asked him, scooting herself a couple inches closer to him while still laying on her back.

"No," his tone relaxed.

"So we're friends again?"

"Yes."

She felt his hand brush against hers and at first she thought it was on accident, but then he very intently intertwined their fingers together. She didn't want to say anything about it, for fear that he would pull away. She desperately did not want him to pull away.

"Will you sleep in here with me?" Elena asked, as she felt her eyelids get heavy again.

"Sure," he answered.

"Thank you." Her eyes fluttered closed and she dreamt of a time where she could sit across from Damon eating pancakes again.

* * *

 **A/N: A lot to take in! Kai's in jail! Stefan has appeared! DE are speaking again!**

 **I feel like if I had continued this chapter any further, it would have been information overload so stay tuned for more soon. :)**

 **Like what was actually said when Damon showed up and Stefan was there. And if Elena plans to press charges. And how Caroline & Enzo's date ended. And. so. much. more.**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Full disclosure - I am not happy with this chapter. I feel like it kind of drags, but I wanted Elena to find out a little more about the details that she missed in the last chapter while she's on bedrest and it was hard to make that super exciting after the action packed last chapter. I tried to give some cute DE moments in between it all to help. And there really is some important information shared in this chapter so it was necessary.**

* * *

 **Sick of leaving things half done, leaving things half said**

"Pst, wake up." Elena poked Damon in the ribs with her index finger. "You're drooling."

Damon's eyes flitted open, a lazy grin on his face. "I was having the most amazing dream," he said to her.

"Is that what the drool is all about?" she teased, propping her elbow onto the mattress as she turned onto her side to face him. She rested her head on her hand.

"Maybe." He deliberately avoided going into further detail as he looked down at himself. "I can't believe I slept in my jeans."

"Ever the perfect gentleman."

"Oh God. You're not going to think I'm a nice guy now, are you?" Damon groaned then laughed.

"Rest assured that I am still firmly of the belief that you are not boyfriend material." Elena's voice sounded confident, but she knew she was kind of lying a little bit. Other than the first morning they'd woken up together, Damon had been exactly what she was looking for in a partner. She certainly wasn't about to tell him that though. Furthermore, she couldn't allow herself to acknowledge any of it.

"Whew. Dodged a bullet with that one," he jokingly replied, swiping his forehead in an exaggerated gesture.

"Hey," she playfully slapped his arm. "I am a catch."

"I know you are," he said, all kidding aside.

As her eyes bore into his, she felt a tingle on her lips. She wanted to kiss him and badly, but she pulled herself away. No use in throwing herself at someone who didn't see her that way, not when they could have something else that would be longer lasting.

"So," Damon sat up and rubbed his hands together. "What are you making me for breakfast?"

Elena shook her head. "Oh no, I don't cook."

"C'mon. It's only fair. I made you breakfast when you stayed over. And I gave you comfortable clothes to wear. And I let you have your own bed. I think I'm winning at this friendship thing," he teased.

"So you'll make those fluffy pancakes again?" she pouted her bottom lip. "C'mon. I'm recovering from a head trauma. Please?"

"Last night you were a badass and today you're playing the helpless card. I see how it is," Damon replied, getting up out of the bed. "Stay there. A round of pancakes coming right up for the invalid."

"Thank you!" she called after him just before he shut her bedroom door behind him.

A couple seconds later, he poked his head back inside. "Why did I just see a shirtless Enzo dart from the bedroom across the hall to the bathroom?"

Elena shrugged her shoulders, purposely playing coy. "Why don't you ask him?"

With a huff, Damon shut her bedroom door again and Elena relaxed in her bed, perking her ears up so that she could eavesdrop on what was probably about to be a hilarious conversation.

"Can you not lurk outside the bloody door while I'm in the loo?" she heard Enzo yelp, no doubt Damon had startled him.

"What are you doing here?" Damon questioned him.

"I had a date," Enzo vaguely replied.

"With?"

"Caroline," Enzo mumbled.

"You cannot date Elena's roommate. Not happening, buddy. If you break her heart, I'll have to hear all about it." Damon's voice started to take on a preachy tone. "And if you break her heart and it ruins what I have with Elena, I'll have to punch you. I really don't want to punch you, Enzo. Don't make me punch you."

Elena giggled a little at Damon's lecture as she nuzzled into the covers and felt herself starting to fall asleep again. This concussion had really put her down for the count. It wasn't going to be easy to get anything done this weekend.

* * *

"I go and make you pancakes and you pass out on me," Damon breathed into her ear, startling her awake.

"Why am I so tired?" she groaned as he placed a tray in front of her with a plate of pancakes and a glass of orange juice on it.

"Your brain is mad at you," he answered. Damon sat down next to Elena and watched her as she took large bites of the food.

"You think I should press charges?" she asked him, mouth full of food. It wasn't her most attractive look, hell it may have been her least attractive look to date. But with the idea of romance out the window, she was okay with that.

He chuckled. "I think that's your decision."

"Well, what would you do?" Elena took a huge gulp of the cold orange juice.

His eyes darkened for a moment. "Believe me, Elena. You don't want to know what I'd do to the little prick if given the chance."

He didn't even need to say it. His look said it all and she was temporarily rendered speechless. She knew that he didn't particularly care for Kai, but the protective way he was looking at her was almost too much to take in. She didn't know that he felt so strongly about Kai.

"Well," she paused. "What if you were in this situation?"

"I am not as quick to forgive as you are," he mumbled.

"So you'd press charges?" she pressed on.

"I would, yes."

She tried to get a sense of where his head was at as she chewed on the last piece of pancake. She'd devoured them so quickly that she didn't realize she was finished until she poked around on her plate with her fork for more and came up empty.

"Kai's troubled, you know? He always has been, but when we first met he was so kind to me. I know that sounds absurd given what you know about him, but it's true. I was his weak spot for a very long time. When my parents died a couple of years ago, he held my hand at the funeral, he was by my side constantly. He said all the right things, did all the right things. He would do things for me before I even knew that I needed them done. I've seen the good in him and I know it's still there somewhere." Elena sighed, ashamed to admit that she still hadn't fully given up on saving Kai.

Damon listened intently, nodding but staying silent for her to speak.

"Everything changed last year. Suddenly, I wasn't his weak spot anymore and I don't know what happened." Her eyes began to get red and puffy, but she was doing her best to hold back any tears that were trying to push their way out. "One day everything was fine and the next day, he's screaming at me for no reason at all. He never used to raise his voice to me."

"You are loyal to a fault sometimes, Elena." Damon picked up her tray and set it aside on her nightstand. "Whoever he was back then, that person is gone. You have to let that person go because he isn't coming back."

"How do you know that?" she asked him, dabbing at the inner corner of her eye with her fingers.

"Because that person loved you," he reasoned. The way he looks at you now, that isn't love. That's obsession, violent and dangerous obsession. And it isn't because of anything you did that he looks at you that way now. People change, feelings change. It just happens sometimes." He rested his hand on her knee comfortingly.

"I can't send someone to prison if I don't think they're a bad person."

"You have to get that sense of morality out of your head. Like I said, there's no good or bad people. There's only people. And right now, there is a person who wants to hurt you and you have the ability to protect yourself from that. Ultimately, the decision is yours. I can't make it for you. No one can. Please just save yourself for once, Elena. Please?" The last word was desperate, as if he was begging her to do this for herself.

Damon kissed her on the forehead and stood up from the bed. He turned to grab the tray from the nightstand. "I have to go into work for a little while."

"But its Saturday," Elena whined. "Are you sure you can't stay?"

"Enzo and I have a very important meeting, but I will come right back afterwards. I promise." He juggled the tray in his hands as he pulled open her bedroom door.

Elena nodded her head at him then stared down at her hands until she heard her door click closed. It was then that she let the tears fall. God, she felt like she cried so much these days and maybe she did, but it always felt like it was for a good reason. She knew what she had to do and it was going to be so incredibly painful.

She pushed around the disheveled papers on the floor next to her bed until she found Matt's card. After grabbing her phone and dialing his number, she waited with uneasy breaths for his answer.

"Officer Donovan, how can I help you?" his friendly voice answered.

She drew in a deep breath. Once she said this, there was no going back. "Hi Matt, this is Elena Gilbert. I'm ready to press charges against Malaki Parker."

* * *

Caroline and Bonnie sat on Elena's bed with their legs crossed underneath them that Saturday afternoon. They'd insisted on not leaving her alone for extended periods of time, despite the fact that Elena complained about not being able to get any homework done at all.

"How are you feeling?" Caroline asked. "Sorry I missed the insanity last night. You were fast asleep by the time I got home."

"I'm fine. Tired mostly, but fine," she answered, trying and failing to concentrate on her French homework.

"The paramedic said you will probably start to feel more like yourself tomorrow afternoon," Bonnie added.

"Thank God. I swear I'm fine now though. No dizziness or ringing in my ears. Can I please just get some study time in?" she begged them.

Caroline grabbed Elena's notebook from her and tossed it aside. "You mean you don't want the details on my date with Enzo?"

"I mean, obviously I do." Elena's eyes lit up with excitement. It'd be nice to get the attention off of her for a little while. With everyone doting on her all day, it was starting to get overwhelming and she needed to focus on something else.

"Well, we went to dinner at this nice Italian restaurant and he had a corner booth reserved for us. Super fancy, super private. Great wine. I highly recommend the wine if you guys ever go there. The Sauvignon Blanc especially." Caroline got a little sidetracked.

"Hey, focus! Dinner, wine, then what?" Bonnie interjected.

"Well he was such a gentleman. Like a suave James Bond. I mean last time we hung out, it was just at his house and we just kind of fooled around, but this time he was all British and fancy and dreamy," she gushed.

"Yeah, yeah. Fancy man. We got that part. Get to the good stuff!" Elena urged her. "Spill it!"

"He drove me back home after dinner. Did you guys know he drives a Tesla? I almost died. I've never been in a Tesla before!"

"And then?" Bonnie prodded.

"He walked me to the door and we kissed," Caroline answered.

Elena rolled her eyes. "Are we going to have to pry this out of you?"

Caroline let out a huff before she spilled the beans. "Okay, fine. We had sex. Really, really, really good sex. Mind-blowing sex. Out of this world sex. I think I might be falling in love with his tongue and his hands and his penis."

Elena and Bonnie burst in laughter as Caroline finished her tirade.

"So no more Tyler?" Elena had to double check.

"Oh, please. Frat guys are so passé. I have my very own fancy man now," Caroline replied proudly.

"Hey! I happen to love my frat guy!" Bonnie chimed in.

"That's because you don't have a fancy man yet," Caroline shot back.

"I wish I had a fancy man," Elena sighed.

"Isn't Damon like mega, super rich?" Bonnie arched a suspicious eyebrow at her. "And like stupid successful?"

"And a total ass," Caroline groaned.

"And totally not interested in me in that way," Elena added.

"Could have fooled me with the way he was acting last night and this morning. Just be glad you weren't awake to see the choice words he had for that cute paramedic when he first got here." Bonnie shifted on the bed. "I thought his eyes were going to fall out of his head when he saw that you were sleeping on that guy's shoulder."

This was all news to Elena. Up until now, she thought she'd fallen asleep on Bonnie shoulder, not Stefan's. She tried to play it cool. After all, she wanted to know more of the details she'd missed while she was passed out and other than Damon, who probably wouldn't be too forthcoming about his awkward interaction with his brother, Bonnie was the only other person who knew what happened.

Bonnie did not disappoint as she divulged a few more details. "Pretty sure they knew each other. Damon kept yelling at him about some girl named Katherine, but I couldn't really understand much of what was being said, then he snatched you up in his arms and insisted on carrying you upstairs safely. It was all I could do not to let him sleep on the floor next to your bed. He kept saying it was all his fault; that you wouldn't have even been with Kai anymore if it weren't for him. What does that even mean, Elena?"

"I was trying to protect Damon from Kai. Kai said he'd hurt him and I thought that if I got back together with him, I'd save Damon," she answered.

"You do realize that's crazy talk, right?" Caroline placed a reassuring hand on Elena's shoulder. "Damon does not need protecting. He's a grown man with pretty much unlimited resources. He will be just fine. You on the other hand," her voice trailed off as she motioned to the bump on Elena's head where she hit the coffee table last night.

"Funny. He basically told me the same thing."

"Great minds," Caroline smiled. "So you're pressing charges? You already called?"

Elena swallowed hard. It still didn't sit well with her, what she was doing to Kai. She felt like she was giving up on him, but she also knew that she had to do this to protect herself. "Yeah, I called. He's probably being arraigned as we speak. If he makes bail, Matt is going to call me. Kai's technically not allowed within 100 feet of me or this house right now, but you know Kai never really listens to anything that anyone tells him."

Unfortunately, Kai's negative tendencies were only exacerbated when he was angry and she couldn't imagine how angry he probably was once he found out that she was pressing charges against him. If he made bail, she knew he'd head straight for her the minute he got out. She just didn't know if he'd be heading there to apologize or to hurt her. She was hoping that she wouldn't have to find out.

* * *

"I'm back with Thai food!" Damon announced as he made his way into Elena's bedroom carrying a white plastic bag full of containers. He was dressed in a grey suit, probably from his business meeting earlier.

"Please tell me you got Pad Thai!" Elena exclaimed. It was, after all, her favorite. She set her French notes aside and clapped her hands together in excitement.

Damon scoffed. "I'm not an animal. Of course I got Pad Thai." He pulled the container from the bag and she practically snatched it from his hands. "I guess that one's yours."

Elena shrugged and looked up at him innocently. "Head trauma." It was starting to become a convenient excuse. It had worked earlier when she finally convinced Caroline and Bonnie to leave her alone for an hour or so. She'd claimed that she was tired, but really she intended to use the time to study for French. She'd been able to do so until Damon came in.

"I guess I'll take the Red Curry," Damon said, grabbing that container out. He handed Elena some chopsticks and they both dug into their meals.

"How did you know I liked Thai food?" she asked him before bringing the chopsticks full on noodles to her mouth. It tasted so good that she almost moaned, but she caught herself before it happened.

"I'm psychic," he answered nonchalantly.

Elena shot him a glare, as if to say _liar, liar, pants on fire_.

"Okay, fine. Bonnie told me," he relented.

"I knew it!' She shook her head as a smug grin took over her face.

"Did you get the chance to think about our conversation earlier?" he asked, poking around in his take-out box with his chopsticks. It was an interesting juxtaposition; Damon sitting on top of her duvet in what was probably a $3,000 suit while eating Thai take-out of a carton.

"I already called," Elena said, focusing on swirling the noodles with her chopsticks. "If he makes bail, they'll let me know."

"If he makes bail, you won't be safe here," Damon pointed out.

"I'll manage. Caroline's getting pretty confident with that baseball bat." Elena laughed.

"You can stay with me," he offered. "At least until things quiet down. I have plenty of room for you."

"No. No, thank you. That's generous of you Damon, but I can't accept. I don't want you to be any more involved in this than you already are." Elena shook her head furiously, still staring down at her food.

"I'm already here and I'm already involved."

She chanced a glance at him to see that he was intently looking at her with soft eyes. His eyes were saying a lot right now. There was saying "please let me help you", they were saying "please let down your walls", they were saying "please don't act so casually about this".

"Well let's hope it doesn't come to it, but I'll plan to crash in your guest room if I start to feel unsafe. Deal?" She offered him a fair compromise. Sure, staying with Damon sounded like a great plan at first. Then she started to picture how difficult it would be to have to be so close to him, but to never truly have him. It was already difficult enough to maintain this delicate friendship with him and they didn't even live together.

Damon nodded in response and they fell into a comfortable silence as they continued to eat. That was, until Enzo and Caroline's voices sounded through the house. And it wasn't a conversation they were having.

Elena tried to hold it together, just quietly snickering to herself in between bites of food at first, but then she looked up at Damon, whose smile was as wide a mile, and she completely lost it. She threw her head back and cackled, actually cackled. "I am never going to be able to study again, am I?"

"There's no crazy roommate sex noises at my apartment," Damon negotiated.

"Are you going to try to have sex with me if I stay there?" Elena asked, point blank.

Damon shrugged and smirked. "Not unless you try to have sex with me."

She rolled her eyes. Haughty bastard. "In the interest of maintaining our purely platonic friendship, let's wait until we absolutely have to before we cohabitate."

"I'll let you help me plan Monday's lecture?" He tried to bribe her.

Elena bit her lip. He was trying like hell to appeal to her weak spot, her thirst for knowledge. "You aren't playing fair, Damon Salvatore."

He smiled. "I know."

After they finished up dinner, Damon started to clean up and was about to leave again. Elena pouted out her bottom lip. Truthfully, she liked that he was taking care of her and even if they'd only known each other a short time, she valued having him around.

"You're leaving again?"

"I have to, uh, I have to," he struggled to find the words as he packed the discarded take-out boxes back into the plastic bag. Elena knew he was carefully crafting his sentence so that he could avoid something. She just didn't know what.

"Oh, cut the crap. Where are you off to?" She grabbed his wrist as he breezed by her.

"I'm meeting Stefan for a drink," he answered, looking down at her.

"You're meeting your brother for a drink after not speaking for how long and you weren't going to tell me?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm on bed rest this weekend, a prisoner to this room with only the exciting lives of those around me to entertain me, and you weren't going to tell me?"

He smiled at her. "You've only been stuck here for a day. You're milking this, aren't you?"

"Only with you."

He rolled his eyes and pulled away from her.

"I expect a full report afterwards!" she called out after him as he closed her bedroom door.

* * *

 **A/N: Happy early Thanksgiving to my American readers! Happy end of November to my non-American readers! More to come soon. :)**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in chapters, but it's here now and it's ready for you!**

* * *

 **Give me shelter or show me heart**

The pale yellow walls in her small bedroom were starting to move. She was sure of it. The room had to be getting physically smaller because it sure felt like it.

It had been four hours since he'd left and Elena was beginning to get a little stir crazy. She'd managed to finish all of her homework for the weekend, read through two old issues of Cosmopolitan, and pick at her cuticles until they were red and irritated. Bonnie and Caroline popped their heads in every half hour or so to check on her, but she had little entertainment otherwise. And she was anxiously waiting for an update from Damon. They'd finally swapped phone numbers and she twiddled her phone in her hands waiting for it to ring. It took every ounce of self-control she had not to just outright text him and ask him how things were going.

She was just about to venture out of her room and downstairs for some ice cream, surely to be met with Bonnie telling her to get back in bed, when her phone starting vibrating in her hands. Without looking at the screen, she lifted it to her ear. "Finally," she spoke into the phone, completely expecting some witty remark from Damon.

"Hi Elena, this is Officer Donovan," a different voice answered. "This is, this is Matt."

"Oh, hi. I'm sorry about that. I was expecting a phone call from someone else," she tried to explain her forwardness.

"It's no problem," he let out a nervous laugh. "Happens more often than you'd think. I won't keep you long. I just wanted to let you know that your boyfriend made bail so he's out until his court date."

"He isn't my boyfriend anymore," Elena muttered quietly. She chose to focus on that instead of the other part of Matt's statement. Yes, she had a restraining order but a piece of paper wasn't really going to do much in the event that Kai showed up to her house and she was starting to panic a little on the inside.

"Apologies," Matt answered. "Elena, if he shows up there, if he violates his restraining order, please call 911 immediately. We will be there as soon as possible, okay?"

His tone was slightly reassuring, but the thought of what an angry Kai might do between when she called for help and when help actually arrived was enough to combat any kind of comfort Matt had tried to provide her. "Thank you," she politely responded. "Thanks for calling."

They ended the phone call with the standard pleasantries and Elena tried to keep her voice calm and even toned. Once she hung up the phone, she ran downstairs. A bout of dizziness overtook her as she stepped off the last of the steps and she gripped the railing to steady herself until it subsided.

"Why are you running? You're supposed to be taking it slow, Elena," Bonnie chastised her.

"Kai's out," was all Elena had to say. "You guys aren't safe here. I'm so sorry."

"Elena, you are not safe here," Caroline said, standing up from the couch and walking over to her. "It isn't us that he'll be looking for."

"Maybe you should go stay with Jeremy for a few days," Bonnie suggested. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Do you want me to call him?"

"I don't want to get Jeremy involved in this. He already has enough going on. Besides, I can't miss class. I'll be fine here." She deliberately did not tell them that Damon had offered to let her stay at this apartment. She knew they'd tried to push her into that and she wasn't about to inconvenience him, nor was she about to put herself in that close of quarters with Damon for the long of a period of time. She was stubborn, but she was still human. If Kai came, she could handle him. What she couldn't handle was if he hurt one of her best friends. "You two can't stay though. I need to know that you're safe."

"We can all stay with Enzo," Caroline suggested. "I haven't asked him yet, but I'm sure he'd say yes. I can be very persuasive." She shimmied her shoulders humorously.

Elena scrunched up her face and laughed. "Oh, no thank you. I cannot listen to that sexual howling night after night. At least now, I get a night off from it every once in a while."

They all stood there in silence, thinking about what to do. A fist knocked on the front door, not aggressively or anything. It was just a normal knock, but an already jittery and nervous Elena yelped.

"It's probably just Enzo," Caroline said as she went to pull open the door.

"No! Don't!" Elena called out after her. "It could be Kai!"

"Are you going to make a man wait outside all night or can I come in?" Enzo's distinct accent sounded from behind the door.

Caroline turned to Elena. "See? Told you it was Enzo."

Once Caroline opened the door, Enzo stepped inside and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Hi, beautiful," he whispered to her.

Caroline blushed, actually blushed. It may have been the first time Elena had ever seen Caroline blush in the three years that she'd known her.

"I have to admit that I thought Damon would be here," Enzo admitted as he stepped further into the living room.

"So you didn't come to see me?" Caroline pouted.

Enzo wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. "Obviously, I did. I just thought I might lay eyes on my best mate while I was here."

"He didn't tell you where he was going?" Elena asked him.

Enzo shook his head, a confused look on his face.

"Interesting," Elena mumbled to herself, quietly enough that no one could thankfully hear her.

"So how's the noggin?" Enzo asked, changing the subject.

Elena shrugged. "I still can't really do a lot without getting dizzy, but I'm told that I'll feel better soon."

"She isn't even supposed to be going down the stairs right now," Bonnie added.

"Well she's down here now so the damage is done, right?" Enzo smiled at Elena.

Elena nodded. "Caroline, have you forced Enzo to watch Real Housewives yet or is now a good night to start?"

"That sounds like absolute and total torture," Enzo said as he took Caroline's hand. He was about to lead her up the staircase, when Caroline tugged back.

"That sounds like the best idea! Elena and Bonnie, you get the popcorn! Enzo, get comfy! I'm about to introduce you to Vicki Gunvalson. You will love to hate her!" Caroline led him over to the couch as he groaned.

The four of them settled into the living room for a mini-marathon and Elena chose to focus on the dramatic lives of these people in Orange County for a little while instead of her own. Laughing and throwing popcorn at the TV while torturing Enzo was a welcome reprieve from worrying about Kai busting into the house at any moment. She was still a little jumpy whenever a branch would shift outside, but she tried to focus on the bad reality television in front of her.

When Bonnie had fallen asleep on the couch and Caroline had snuck off upstairs with Enzo, Elena chanced a glance at her phone again. It was past midnight and she luckily didn't have any calls or texts from Kai. Unfortunately, she didn't have any from Damon either.

* * *

By Sunday morning, Elena was feeling much more like herself. She was up and about and enjoying the freedom of being able to roam the house without feeling tired after standing up for too long. She didn't dare try to do anything too strenuous, but she was happy that she could at least get some laundry done.

She sat on the middle of her bed, folding her clothes into piles all around her and listening to music far too loudly. Her phone was never more than a couple inches away from her. She didn't want to miss it if Damon called. Yes, she'd become that girl who waited by the phone. She wasn't going to cave and just text him because then he'd realize just how much she wanted to hear from him. Instead, she'd been waiting by the phone diligently since last night.

As the sun set behind the trees outside of her window on Sunday night, she found herself still waiting. Huffing loudly, she reached for her phone and stared at the screen. "Ring," she commanded it. "C'mon. Ring."

Nothing happened.

She tossed her phone on the bed. Damon had been so attentive to her when he was here. He didn't owe it to her to call her, but she was still so sure she'd have heard from him by now. She finally resigned herself to the fact that if she hadn't by now, she probably wasn't going to. She briefly thought about caving in and just sending him a quick text, just to check in on him, but she decided against it. After waiting this long, what would be the point in caving now?

Just when she was about to drift off to an early sleep with the reassurance of knowing that she'd start her day off tomorrow in finance class with him, Elena heard her phone finally make the first sound it had made all day. But it wasn't a phone call or even a text message like she had hoped. It was an email. A mass email to her entire finance class.

 _From: Damon Salvatore_

 _Subject: Class Cancelled Tomorrow_

 _All,_

 _Please take tomorrow morning to study up for a quiz on dividend policies on Wednesday._

Well it didn't look like she'd be seeing him tomorrow morning after all.

* * *

The extra hour or so of sleep on Monday morning was lovely, but it didn't really put a dent into the hours that she'd stayed up late on Sunday worrying about Damon. In fact, the more time that passed, the more worried she became.

Concentrating in French class proved to be a daunting task. She couldn't shake the fact that something was wrong with Damon. He didn't exactly owe her a phone call or anything, but it was unlike him to cancel meetings or classes on such short notice. He didn't get to be so successful in the financial business by being flakey. She knew enough about him to know that he usually kept his appointments. He took that kind of thing rather seriously.

She secured the last empty study room in the library later that day and typed away at a research paper she had for her economics class. It wasn't due for another couple of weeks, but she was trying to distract herself with anything that she possibly could at this point. She would have done anything to rid herself of the thoughts of him. By this time in the day, the lack of sleep was feeding into her paranoia.

Didn't he say he enjoyed spending time with her? Didn't he say he was worried about her? Why hadn't he called to check on her? Why would he cancel class and not tell her why? What had she done to drive him away? Maybe she played the sympathy card for her head too much. Maybe he freaked on her when he realized they were becoming so close. Whatever it was, she hated the not knowing. The not knowing was actually worse because whatever reason she was coming up with in her head was inevitably worse than the reality of why she hadn't heard from him.

Shoving her laptop and notebook into her bag, Elena started to make her way to her car. She surveyed the parking lot as she walked, constantly on the lookout for Kai. Her brain hadn't let her forget about him either. In fact, when she wasn't obsessing like a schoolgirl about why Damon hadn't called her, she was jumping at the nearest sound and thinking that Kai had finally decided that restraining order didn't matter.

To put it quite frankly, Elena was a mess.

The streets of downtown New York City were crowded as usual. She stood there in the parking lot with her keys shoved into her car door and listened to the sound of horns honking. At this rate, it would take her at least 30 minutes to drive the two miles from campus to Park Avenue. The subway would be much faster, but she loathed the subway. Elena had scrimped and saved for the past 3 years so that she could finally afford her shitty car and not have to take the subway ever again.

She took one last look around at the congested traffic outside of the parking lot and slung her bag onto her shoulder. She was going to do this and she was going to get there as quickly as she could so she didn't have time to change her mind.

Probably the worst part about riding the subway was the smell. The second worst part was the fact that Elena couldn't tell it was raining until she emerged from the station about half a block from Damon's apartment. It was too late to fish her jacket out of her bag. She was already soaked the minute she stepped onto the street.

Shivering and soaking, Elena made a run for Damon's apartment building. She pushed the front doors open and stepped into the dry lobby. She was about to head over to the elevator when the doorman stopped her.

"Miss? Excuse me, miss? Is someone expecting you?" he politely asked her, his smile peeking out from behind his gray mustache.

She realized she probably looked like a crazy person, running through the lobby soaking wet without saying anything to him. She'd only been in this building once and it wasn't the same doorman so there was no way that he didn't think she was some insane stranger.

"I'm here to see Damon Salvatore," Elena replied to him, nervously biting her lip. She hadn't really thought this through. That was the thing about impulsive decisions though. They wouldn't be impulsive if they were given any real thought.

"He hasn't mentioned that he's expecting anyone. I can call him, if you'd like." The doorman was trying to be as nice to her as possible, but she could tell that he was not about to let her into that elevator without speaking to Damon first.

Elena thought about it for a second before nodding her head. "Um, sure. Tell him Elena is here to see him?"

She nervously paced around the lobby as the doorman called up to Damon, her hair dripping onto the slate floor below her. What if he didn't let her come up? Maybe he was avoiding her on purpose and now she'd gone and shown up unannounced at his apartment building like some kind of psycho stalker.

"He said he'll come down to get you," the doorman stated after hanging up the phone.

"Thanks," she murmured, still nervously pacing back and forth. What had once seemed like a great decision to her was now quickly turning into a stupid one. If he wanted to see her, wouldn't he have at least texted her?

Just as Elena was about to convince herself that coming there was a mistake, Damon stepped off of the elevator and he looked like hell. His eyes were drooping, his hair was disheveled, and his usually clean-shaved face was littered with stubble.

"James," he tiredly addressed the doorman. "This is Elena Gilbert. She's a great friend of mine who is allowed upstairs any time."

"Yes sir, Mr. Salvatore. We'll add her to your list of guests."

Damon nodded and wrapped his arm around Elena's shoulders. "You must be freezing," he breathed into her ear, leaning into her a little too much.

The elevator door closed behind them and the close proximity allowed for the distinct smell of bourbon to fill her nostrils. He'd been drinking and he'd been drinking a lot.

"Stefan is going to marry Katherine and he wanted my blessing," Damon said, chuckling to himself. "My blessing? Can you believe that shit?"

"Damon, I'm so sorry." Elena reached out to touch him, but he shrugged away from her touch. "Why didn't you call me? I would have listened if you wanted to talk."

"I don't want to braid each other's hair and talk about our feelings, Elena," he snapped at her as they stepped out onto his floor. "That's not why you're here."

His previously clean apartment had empty liquor bottles all over the place. It wouldn't have been such a big deal, a typical bachelor pad even, if she didn't know exactly how clean it was last time she was here. Damon collapsed onto the couch and poured himself another drink. Elena sat her bag next to the doorway she started to gather the empty bottles into her arms, trying to make her way to the trashcan in the kitchen with them.

"Stop cleaning. I have people to do that," Damon said, taking a swig from a tumbler filled with bourbon.

"You're going through some things right now. I'm just trying to help you," she answered before walking into the kitchen and throwing the bottles into the trashcan.

"Do you want to know what you can do to help me, Elena?" he asked her.

Elena sat down next to him and reached for the glass of bourbon from his hand.

"No, no. I can pour my own bourbon, thank you." He wagged his finger at her.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I was trying to take it away from you, not give you more."

"Elena, I'm not Kai. Stop trying to baby me," he reprimanded her quietly. "Please just kiss me."

Damon leaned into her, licking his lips quickly before pressing them to hers. She could taste the smokiness from his drink and for a brief moment, she almost threw all caution to the wind for him. His hands inched their way to the hem of her wet shirt, but she pulled away from him just as he was about to lift it up and expose her stomach.

"We don't do that. That's not part of our friendship," Elena stated in between deep breathes.

"Don't you find me attractive?" he asked her with hurt eyes. "Didn't you enjoy when we had sex before?"

Still cold from sitting in her wet jeans and shirt, Elena trembled and wrapped her arms around herself. She chose not to respond to Damon's questions because the truthful answers weren't something she wanted to admit out loud to him right now.

"Here," he shoved his glass of bourbon in her direction. "Drink this to warm yourself up. I'll grab you some dry clothes."

Elena held the glass with both hands as she watched Damon struggle to stand and stumble down the hallway. She set the glass on the coffee table untouched and waited for him to come back. She didn't need any alcohol right now. He'd had enough for the both of them.

Damon tossed a tshirt and sweatpants to her and she caught them. He stared at her with hooded eyes, probably wishing she'd just change right there. It looked like he was undressing her with his eyes anyways.

"I'm just going to go change," she said awkwardly as she excused herself from the living room.

Once she shut the door to the guest bedroom, she leaned back against it. He was behaving so strangely, practically throwing himself at her mercy, but she knew this was because he was hurting in probably the worst way. It didn't matter. She couldn't allow herself to fall into bed with him just because it might temporarily make him feel better. She was doing her best to guard her heart and that would be the worst thing she could possibly do. It was all she could manage not to fall for him without sex being a factor.

Dressed in dry clothes and feeling much warmer already, she padded out into the living room to see Damon asleep on the couch. He was lightly snoring peacefully. She pried the full tumbler of bourbon out of his hand, grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch, and covered him with it. When she was ready to tip-toe her way out of the living room and curl up in the guest bed, his hand shot out and reached for her.

"Please, Elena. Please don't go anywhere." His voice was thick with sleep, but she understood his words perfectly.

Just as he had stayed with her Friday night, he needed her to stay with him tonight. Elena curled into a ball on the other end of the couch, careful not to crowd Damon too much. He wasn't having any of that though.

"C'mere," he mumbled to her, holding out his hand.

She slipped hers into his and he pulled her so that she was laying completely on top of him, her head resting on his chest. Damon rested his chin on her head, which allowed her to nuzzle into the crook of his neck. It was the kind of thing couples did or at the very least, it was the kind of thing platonic friends did not do. Still, Elena let her eyes fall closed as she listened to soft hum of Damon's snore and felt the gentle strokes of his hand rubbing her back.

* * *

 **A/N: Leave love (or hate)!**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thank you for all of the love from the last chapter. It's what motivated me to write this one today!**

* * *

 **I think I thought I saw you try**

Elena sat at on a barstool in the kitchen, sipping her coffee and watching Damon whiz around his apartment while getting ready for work. They'd woken up on the couch in his living room together and after Elena remembered where she was, she pried herself away from the warmth of his body and tried to pretend that nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Luckily, Damon was okay with this plan as well since he'd yet to mention anything about it either.

"Your clothes should be coming out of the dryer any minute now," he said as he patted at his pants pockets in search of his keys. "Then I'll drive you back to your car before my morning meeting. Sound good?"

She nodded her head at him. The sight of Damon Salvatore in a business suit would be a sight she'd never tire of. She'd thought long and hard about it and she decided that she liked him the best in a dark grey one because it made the blue in his eyes stand out even more.

Last night had really done a number on her. Even though they didn't have sex, she felt like she saw a vulnerable piece of Damon that many people would never experience. It was a part of him that she knew he probably didn't want her to see, but he didn't want to be alone and she was happy to be there to support him. After all, he'd done the same for her.

Damon grabbed his ringing phone out of his briefcase and held it to his ear. "Salvatore," he answered in the professional voice she'd come to expect whenever he was talking business.

His brows furrowed as he listened to the person on the other line and he looked at Elena with an apologetic look on his face. He took in a deep breath. "I'll get there as soon as I can. Just try to keep him there, okay?"

He shoved his phone back into his briefcase and threw the strap over his shoulder. "We should get going. One of our biggest clients is at the office and he wants to walk. I have to go do some damage control. We can't afford to lose his money right now. Sorry to rush you."

"No, it's okay. I'll change super quick and be right back." Elena hopped off of the barstool and scurried into the laundry room to grab her clothes. When she emerged in her jeans and shirt, Damon was on his phone again.

"Do not let him leave, Enzo. I don't care if you have to barricade the door. Do not let him leave," he sternly spoke into the phone before ending the call.

"I can just take the subway back to my car," Elena offered, shuffling her feet over to him. She loathed the option, but it's how she got there in the first place. She didn't want to be the cause of his investment firm losing a huge deal.

"No way. I'll take you," he answered. "If you don't mind, can we just stop by the office first? It'll probably only take a few minutes."

Elena's eyes lit up. She'd always imagined that she'd work at a fancy financial firm on Wall Street eventually, but that dream was light-years away and she'd never actually stepped foot into a Wall Street office building before. Trying to subdue her excitement, she answered with a casual "I don't mind at all."

Apparently she didn't do a great job of hiding her enthusiasm because Damon called her out shortly after. "How hard are you geeking out right now?" he asked her as they stepped into the elevator together.

Now that the cat was out of the bag and Elena didn't have to hold it in any longer, she started physically bouncing up and down in anticipation. She let out a small yelp and Damon chuckled in response.

"I should be stressing so much right now, but your adorable reaction is making me laugh," he smirked at her. "Just promise you won't ask my staff a bunch of questions? I pay them to work, not make small talk with hot college girls."

"So you think I'm hot?" she teased him once the elevator doors dinged open.

"I feel like I made it clear last night that I'm very attracted to you," he answered matter-of-factly, walking out into the lobby of the building. It was the first time he'd acknowledged the kiss since it happened.

Elena blushed as she trailed him, tucking her head down and staring at her feet as they moved her outside into the parking garage and into the passenger seat of the blue Camaro. Luckily, spring showers were nowhere in sight and the skies were a bright blue today.

"It's a windows down kind of day," she said as he started up the car.

"Agreed. The weather should be nice enough to ride with the top down pretty soon." He rolled the windows down and turned out of the parking deck onto the street in front of them. With traffic, it was about a 45 minute drive to lower Manhattan and Elena wanted to enjoy every single one of those 45 minutes alone with Damon.

She didn't want to push, but she thought maybe Damon could use an ear to talk about what happened with his brother. She'd intended to do that last night, but he wasn't ready to talk and she respected that. Now that the wound had a little extra time to mend, she thought she might try again. "Do you want to talk about Stefan?" she asked hesitantly.

Damon reached for the dial on the vintage car radio and turned it to a station then turned the volume up. She was going to take that reaction as a strong no.

Instead she settled for singing along to the songs on the radio, however badly she was at hitting the high notes. It seemed that every time she'd try to hit a note and completely miss it, Damon's smile would grow wider so she started to sing even worse on purpose just to cheer him up.

"I can't take it anymore. No one can be this bad of a singer!" He finally stopped her. They were at a red light a couple blocks away from his Wall Street and he was laughing so hard that he had to hold onto his stomach.

"I felt like my humiliation was actually helping your mood," she admitted, taking a glance at him from across the seats.

"It kind of was," he responded before turning into a parking deck. "You okay walking from here?"

Elena nodded her head as he pulled into a reserved parking spot. Of course he had a reserved spot. He was a big fucking deal, but sometimes she let herself forget that. To her, he had become just Damon. It was only moments like this that she realized who it was sitting in the driver's seat of this Camaro. Damon Salvatore was a very impressive man, a very powerful man, a very successful man. And this impressive, powerful, successful man cared about her. He cared about her and he admitted he was attracted to her. It was enough to overwhelm anyone, and last night forced Elena to make herself acknowledge that this may be more than a friendship after all.

A short walk later and they were standing in front of Salvatore Investments. It was a multi-story building with his name on the front of it. Further reiterating to Elena how lucky she was to step foot into it with the founder by her side.

"Good morning Mr. Salvatore," a perky blonde in a red blouse and black pencil skirt greeted them as they walked inside. It looked like she'd been standing by the front door waiting for him.

"Rachel, good morning. This is Elena. Please make sure she gets all of the coffee she wants while I'm in conference room one with Mr. Roman." Damon headed for the elevator, leaving Elena behind with Rachel in the lobby.

He pressed the button to call the elevator, then turned to Elena. "Don't wander away from Rachel. She's my best financial analyst and she will find you if you try to run away. I'll be back down to get you as soon as I can."

Elena sighed once the elevator doors closed and Damon was out of sight. Seeing the lobby wasn't exactly what she had in mind. She was excited because she wanted to see how the business itself actually functioned, but instead she was stuck down here while Damon handled things upstairs.

"Sorry you're stuck with babysitting duty," Elena smiled at her. "Apparently I can't be left alone."

Rachel walked Elena over to a set of couches in the lobby. "Oh, it's fine. Mr. Salvatore shouldn't be long. He's a great negotiator." She poured Elena a fresh cup of coffee and handed it to her.

"Thank you." Elena took a sip from the warm cup and looked around at the impressive lobby, the marble flooring, the gold finishing touches, and the large chandelier that hung from the ceiling all made this place seem so opulent. It was the type of building she dreamed of walking into each morning for work. "Do you like working here?" she asked Rachel.

"I do. It was rocky at first for me here because people don't really take women seriously in the financial world, but Mr. Salvatore was really supportive of me." She paused for a minute, seemingly gathering her thoughts. "Is it too forward of me to ask if you two are seeing each other? Please don't feel like you need to answer. I'm just a nosey gossip who's working off of three hours of sleep." Rachel's cheeks turned pink and Elena could tell she was a little embarrassed to be asking about Damon's love life.

"Oh, we're just friends," Elena answered. After all, that's all they'd ever agreed to be.

"Do you know if he's seeing anyone seriously currently?" Rachel pressed on, her tone becoming more meddlesome.

This was starting to get to the point where things were uncomfortable for Elena. She didn't think Damon was seeing anyone right now, but she didn't want to think about it if he was. And it wasn't really appropriate to be having this conversation with one of his employees. Unless, Damon had crossed a line with this particular employee. That would probably be the only reason Rachel was even curious about who Damon was or wasn't seeing. Elena was started to put the pieces together.

"Please don't tell him I asked you," Rachel tried to cover her tracks. "I'm just exhausted. I don't know what I'm even saying half the time."

"Do you two have a thing?" Elena concisely asked her.

Rachel opened her mouth to answer, but they were interrupted with the sound of the elevator opening. Damon and Enzo stepped out of it with an older man, who Elena presumed was Mr. Roman.

"Thank you for staying and agreeing to talk with me," Damon said to the man, offering his hand to him.

Mr. Roman shook his hand, nodding his head in Enzo's direction. "Well, Enzo here wouldn't really let me leave."

"He's pesky like that," Damon smiled tightly.

"So I'll see you both this weekend at the charity gala?" Mr. Roman asked them, his mood lightening. "Enzo, I look forward to meeting that lovely girlfriend of yours. Will you be bringing a date, Damon?"

"Damon typically flies solo to these things," Enzo answered for him.

"Pity. I'd hate to be in business with a man who works all the time and doesn't understand having a work/life balance," Mr. Roman shook his head disapprovingly.

"What Enzo meant to say was that I don't typically bring dates to business functions, but considering this is my own charity function, I will be bringing someone. She's actually here right now." Damon looked over to Elena, who was practically shooting daggers at him with her eyes.

The self-righteous asshole was about to use her to his business advantage and he couldn't even tell her that he was sleeping with one of his employees. For a brief moment, she considered making a scene in the middle of his lobby, storming out on him, and effectively ruining this business deal that seemed to be hanging on by a carefully tied thread. She couldn't do that to him though because as much as she hated to admit it out loud, she cared deeply about him and the things that were important to him.

"Elena," he spoke to her as he held out his hand. "Could I introduce you to someone?"

Elena huffed and stood from the couch she was sitting on, leaving Rachel behind her. She would play nice for now, but she didn't have to be happy about it.

"Elena Gilbert is one of the smartest finance students I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Elena, this is Mr. Roman. He owns a chain of luxury hotels in the Midwest and is preparing to expand to the East Coast. We're managing his East Coast financial holdings," Damon smiled, gesturing between the two of them.

"Please call me, Bruce. It's great to meet you, Elena." He extended his hand towards her.

"Nice to meet you as well," she responded, shaking his hand.

"I look forward to seeing you on Friday evening," he spoke to her then turned to Damon and Enzo. "Take good care of my money."

"Absolutely, sir," Damon said to him.

Elena held her tongue long enough for Damon to let Enzo and Rachel know that he'd be back to work once he took Elena back to her car. Throughout the entire exchange, Rachel deliberately did not make eye contact with Elena. Even though she didn't have a chance to answer Elena's question earlier, that action pretty much told Elena all she needed to know about the kind of professional relationships Damon was keeping. Bastard.

Safely in his car, they had an almost hour long drive to get her back to NYU and she wasn't nearly as excited about being stuck in a car with him for that long of time as she was last time.

"Sorry about ambushing you with the gala thing. Thanks for stepping up and agreeing to go," Damon said, his hands firmly planted on the steering wheel.

"Why did you pick Rachel to babysit me?" Elena snapped.

"Because she graduated college a couple years ago and she's really great at her job. I thought you could learn a little from her," he answered with a confused tone. "I thought you two might have some things in common."

Elena scoffed, staring out the window. "Like the fact that we've both slept with you?"

Damon didn't answer right away, probably thinking of a way to talk himself out of this.

"She has feelings for you, Damon. I'm not stupid. You must have slept with her at some point, right?"

"I don't date, Elena. You know that." His response was a perfectly crafted avoidance of what she was actually accusing him of. Sometimes Damon was so clever that it made her want to scream.

"If you're going to keep dancing around what I'm asking you, then let's just stop talking." She looked at him for the first time since they'd gotten in the car and she really wished she hadn't because even though she was blazingly angry with him, he still looked like a fucking GQ model in that damn grey suit.

"Fine by me," he said as he clicked his turn signal on.

The rest of the ride went by in utter and complete silence, which gave Elena plenty of time to stew in her fury. By the time Damon's tires touched the pavement of the parking lot where her car was, she was throwing the passenger side door open and jumping out with her bag. He hadn't even put the car in park yet.

"See you in class tomorrow," Damon said to her before she slammed the car door closed and trotted to her own car.

She didn't have anything to say to him right now. Whatever she thought last night meant, she'd been completely wrong.

* * *

"Let's just get this over with," Elena barked as climbed into the back of a limousine with Damon on Friday night. She'd managed to go the rest of the week with as little contact with him as possible. Other than her two classes with him, the only other interaction she'd had with him since he dropped her off in the parking lot on Tuesday had been him texting her earlier that morning to make sure she could still go to the gala with him.

She could have bailed on him at the last minute and it would have been well within her rights as a stubborn woman who had feelings for a man that wouldn't let himself fall for her. In fact, she'd sat there in the library earlier debating about doing just that. She couldn't deny that she wanted more than just a friendship from Damon, try as she might. For a brief moment on Monday morning, she thought he might have felt the same but then Rachel served as a reminder of the type of man Damon really was. He was didn't muddle his personal life with his sex life and he'd firmly planted her in the friend zone. He'd been so comfortable with her being in the friend zone that he'd assigned the woman he was actually sleeping with to babysit her while he closed a business deal. It was frustrating and humiliating all at once.

Rather than trying to sour said business deal, Elena figured she could at least use the gala as a networking event for herself. After all, wasn't that one of the perks of this friendship anyway? So she put her big girl face on along with the nicest cocktail dress that she owned and told him to pick her up at 8:30.

"I hope you plan to be this charming the whole evening," Damon sarcastically remarked as he adjusted his black bowtie and leaned back in the seat while the limousine pulled away from her house.

"Could you really not find another date?" she snapped. "Rachel wasn't available?"

He rolled his eyes and poured himself a glass of champagne. "Do you really want to go there, Elena? Up until last week, you were still hooking up with your ex-boyfriend and as you pointed out to me Monday evening when you shut me down, sex isn't part of this thing we have going on. I've done nothing wrong here. And aside from my mother, you're the only woman I can stand to be around for more than 30 minutes at a time so no, I couldn't find another date."

Elena crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. She should have just bailed on him. Damn her loyalty.

"I just don't like to think about you sleeping with other people. I'm sure it happens, but I don't want to know about it," she confessed, playing with her dangling earring. Truth be told, that was the least of why she was upset but she wasn't about to tell Damon that her feelings for him were crossing the line into non-platonic friend territory. And they weren't just crossing the line, they were trampling over it.

"And I don't like having to look at the way that dress hugs your hips without being able to touch them, but here we are."

"That!" she yelled at him, not caring that the partition was down and the driver could certainly hear this rather intimate conversation. "That right there is what makes this so terrible for me. You say things like that and you try to make moves on me when you've been drinking, but it's all shallow and meaningless because you would never actually open yourself up to the possibility that this friendship could turn into something more!"

"I'm not interested in it turning into something more," he sighed. He wasn't telling her anything that he hadn't told her before. "I don't want to fall in love with anyone. More than that, I don't need to. Why can't you just enjoy what we have?"

"Because for some ungodly reason that I cannot help, I'm starting to fall for you," she painfully and quietly disclosed. She focused her eye contact on her lap so that she didn't have to see his reaction. "Please just let me in, Damon. Why won't you let me in?" her tone was defeated.

"I can't," he answered.

"You mean you won't."

"Elena, you already know more about me than any other woman ever has. I've let you in as much as I can, but I can't budge any further." He placed his index finger under her chin and lifted her head so that she was looking him in the eyes.

"I feel like you think you're damaged beyond repair," she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm damaged too, you know. I'm damaged goods, but I'm willing to try."

Damon planted a warm kiss on her forehead. "You are not damaged goods. Do not ever think that again, do you hear me?"

"I am damaged. I am. It's okay. I know I am. I can't go anywhere anymore without looking over my shoulder at least once to see if he's following me. Even when I'm relaxed, I'm still constantly listening to what's going on around me because I don't know when he'll come for me, but I just know he will and I want to be ready. And even with all of that going on, I'm still constantly thinking about how much I just want to be with you."

The driver cleared his throat, effectively ending the moment they were having. "Mr. Salvatore, we're here," he spoke.

Elena sniffled and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. This conversation was far from over, but she knew that they couldn't just sit here. It was Damon's event after all. He kind of had to make an appearance. "Is my makeup a mess?" she asked Damon.

He surveyed her face to double check it for her. "Nope. You look perfect."

"Okay, I'm ready. Let's do this." She took a deep breath and he grabbed her hand.

"Don't let go of me until we get inside, okay?" he said to her with his other hand on the door handle of the limousine. The flashing camera bulbs could already be seen from inside the car.

They exited the limo with their fingers still intertwined and Elena did her best to avoid the cameras while tuning out the absurd questions that were being shouted at them.

"We do have to go talk to Forbes before we head inside," he whispered into her ear as he led her through the crowd of photographers. "They're making a big donation tonight to my charity."

Not replying, Elena allowed Damon to pull her off to the side where a couple reporters were there waiting for him.

"Thank you for taking a couple moments to stop and chat with us, Mr. Salvatore," a reporter said to him as she held a recording device out in front of her.

"Of course," he replied professionally to her, hand still linked with Elena's. Elena hid slightly behind him, all of this being a little crazy for her.

"It's said that this gala will raise millions to help fight poverty on the streets of New York City. Is that true?" the reporter asked him.

Damon chuckled. "Well I'll have to see what the figures are at the end of the night, but it is my hope that some good will come out of this overly lavish party I'm throwing. We're in the midst of funding a soup kitchen in Brooklyn right now so hopefully this will be the last push we need in order to break ground on that project."

"And who may we ask is this young lady on your arm?" She gestured to Elena.

"A friend. Just a friend," he answered confidently.

"Of course. Just a friend," the reporter restated. "We hope that you two enjoy your evening. We won't keep you any longer. Thanks again for your time."

Damon nodded and pulled Elena into the safety of the ballroom where the party was being hosted. The roaring of all of the reporters and photographers was suddenly muffled once the door closed behind them. He looked down at their hands and immediately released hers. Elena was kind of disappointed at the loss of contact, but then she remembered she was still supposed to be angry with him.

"If you need to go back to being mad at me until we see Mr. Roman, I'm okay with that," he said to her. "Just please be your charismatic and intelligent self when we run into him?"

Elena nodded. "I'm going to go find the open bar and then Enzo and Caroline."

They parted ways, but Elena did a second glance back in time to finally get a good look at Damon in a tuxedo. If she thought the damn grey suit was bad for her heart, the tuxedo was pretty much pure agony.

* * *

 **A/N: The gala is not over, folks! And neither is that conversation from the limo! I've got a lot of plots set up within this story. If you've been keeping track of everything that's developing – there's Kai on the loose, Stefan & Katherine's wedding (we haven't even met Katherine yet), DE's inability to just commit already, and the most adorable Caroline relationship I think I've ever written. We still have a lot of story left!**


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hi again. Thank you for the reviews! I think it's awesome that you guys are so passionate about these characters that you're defending them. Half of you are saying Elena is overreacting and the other half are saying that Damon is an ass. To that I say, you're both partially correct.**

 **Since music is such an integral part of my writing process, I'm going to start introducing each chapter with a lyric for a song. I've actually gone back and added these to pre-existing chapters. The lyric are to a song that I found particularly inspirational while writing the particular chapter. Think of it sort of like an Easter egg? You can Google the lyric and maybe discover some new music?**

 **Or just skip it entirely, as it doesn't really affect the story at all.**

 **Anyway – here is our next chapter. It's kind of sad. I'm sorry in advance.**

* * *

 **Better that I break the window than him or her or me**

Caroline clinked her champagne glass with Elena's. "Here's to fancy parties with fancy men," she toasted.

"Here's to tenacious, rich assholes who make me want to fall for them," Elena grumbled, taking a sip from her glass.

"You're grumpy," her friend remarked. "Grumpy Elena and free alcohol do not mix well."

Tapping the toe of her black stiletto on the floor beneath her, Elena stared at Damon across the ballroom. If looks could kill, he'd be a dead man already. "He has some nerve."

"So you're still mad about the whole sleeping with his employee thing?" Caroline asked.

"The man tried to have sex with me and then let her babysit me the next morning. What's so scary about me, huh?" She threw her arms into the air wildly, sending a little champagne onto the floor. "Am I really so horrendous that he can't at least try to see what's going on between us? The nerve. The fucking nerve he has. And then when I tried to call him out on it, he tried to make it sound like he hadn't done anything wrong."

"So that's a yes then?"

"You're damn right I'm still mad. I'm seething and if I wasn't stupid enough to care about him, I would have just stayed at home."

"If you didn't care about him, you wouldn't be upset in the first place," Caroline pointed out.

Elena tilted her glass up and chugged the rest of the bubbly liquid. "Well I'm done pushing him. Consider the little glances and the flirty gestures over. If he wants to keep his walls up, mine are going back up too."

"That's mature," Caroline sarcastically teased.

"He's the one acting like a child." She placed her empty glass on a passing tray and grabbed a full one to replace it. "I told him I was falling for him and all he could say was 'I don't want to fall in love', like I didn't know that already. Does he think I wanted this? I didn't want this to happen either."

"Is she going to kill my best mate?" Enzo asked Caroline as he walked up behind her and placed a hand on her lower back.

"Probably," Caroline casually shrugged.

"Did I tell you how beautiful you look in that dress?" he complimented her.

Caroline smiled. "Only about five times on the way over here, but feel free to tell me again."

"I'm actually going to throw up if you do," Elena interrupted.

"She's grumpy," Caroline whispered a little too loudly into Enzo's ear and he let out a small laugh in response.

"You happy people with your happy relationship make me want to scream," Elena grouchily quipped. "Look at you, no commitment issues, no crazy exes, it's just easy for you."

"Damon isn't easy, Elena. You lot think that he has it together, but if you had seen the month-long bender that he went on after he left Katherine, you'd realize how deep those scars run," Enzo advised her. "I love him. He's my lad, but he isn't ready for what you're asking of him and he was honest with you about that."

"So I guess you think I'm being irrational then?" Elena raised her eyebrows at him.

Enzo put his arms up in front of him in defense. "Whoa, whoa. I do not want to be on the receiving end of this fury. I'm just trying to give you some insight."

"It's okay," Caroline placed a reassuring hand on Enzo's chest and kissed his cheek.

Enzo smiled and looked at her like she was the only woman in the room.

The sight made Elena roll her eyes. Normally, she would be ecstatic for Caroline and deep down she really was, but she was wallowing about her unreciprocated feelings and she preferred not to do that in the presence of a happy couple.

"They're still in the honeymoon stage. Give it time." Damon sauntered over to them, noticing Elena's irritated expression. "Enzo's endearing accent can get a teeny bit annoying after a while."

"He's grumpy too," Enzo whispered to Caroline.

Elena let out an angry breath. Why did Damon have to look so handsome tonight? "I need another drink."

Damon sipped his Manhattan calmly. "From the looks of it, you might need to start slowing down on the champagne."

"Are you keeping count?" she snapped at him. The vibes rolling off of both of them were so tense that she was sure the rest of the room could feel it too.

"And, that's our cue to disappear," Enzo said as he took Caroline's hand and led her to the dance floor.

Damon offered his hand to her. "Do you want to join them?"

She shook her head no, not verbally responding to him.

"Elena, I'm still a man. I need to have sex. You cannot actually be angry with me about this," Damon lectured her quietly so that no passersby could hear their conversation.

"Oh, I am. Trust me. I am." She crossed her arms and faced away from him.

He stepped up behind her and push her hair to the side then held his mouth next to her ear. "If you're mad that it wasn't with you, we can work out an arrangement. If you want to have sex with me, just say so," he rasped. She could feel his warm breathe tickling her neck and it wasn't making things any easier on her.

"That isn't the point," Elena explained. "The point is that I don't want you to have sex with other women. It upsets me because I have feelings for you. And if we start to sleep together, my feelings will only grow and you won't be able to return them. I'll just be setting myself up to get my heart broken. I'm still piecing it back together from the last guy."

She dashed out of the ballroom and into the fresh evening air outside. It was too much. Tonight was too much. Being so close to him but not being able to call him hers was too much. She took off her shoes and let them dangle in her hand, not caring that she was barefoot on the dirty city streets. Then she leaned up against the side of the building, closed her eyes, and just focused on sounds of the busy traffic in front of her. It was the first time she'd allowed herself to shut down completely since Kai had been released from jail.

"Elena, you can't be out here by yourself. It isn't safe," Damon's voice interrupted her peace.

"I'm fine. Please go away." She kept her eyes closed and her head pressed against the brick behind her.

"I'm sorry if this is too hard on you. I can have the driver bring you home. Just come inside so I can call him," he encouraged, placing his hand on hers.

For the first time since she'd met him, Elena didn't want Damon to touch her. It was actually painful so she winced and pulled away.

"Will you at least look at me?" he desperately asked her.

"I can't."

"Please?"

She sighed, opening her eyes and looking over at him. Yeah, that was painful too. "I'll play nice this evening. I'm not going to mess up anything to do with your business or your charity, but after tonight I need a little space. I need to not have these feelings for you anymore so I need some space."

Damon looked down at the ground and cleared his throat. "I understand. For what it's worth, I do really care about you. I do. I just can't be who you need me to be right now and I'm sorry for that."

"Let's just go inside so I can help you clench this deal with Bruce then I'll be out of your hair so you can find someone else to warm your bed tonight," she said as she slipped her heels back onto her feet.

"Don't be like that," he softly murmured.

"I'm not being like anything. Let's go." Elena took a deep breath, held it in for a couple of seconds, then let it back out. She smoothed her hands over the fabric of her dress before opening the door to the building. Plastering a smile on her face, she grabbed a glass of champagne from a tray and looked around the room for Mr. Roman.

If she could get through the next twenty minute conversation without crying, then she knew there would be a comfy bed and a pint of ice cream waiting for her when she got home.

So she said all the right things and made all the right jokes to impress Bruce until he was eating out of the palm of Damon's hand and when she looked over at Damon is his tuxedo with his blue eyes sparkling underneath the glow of the chandeliers, she no longer felt angry because she was doing exactly what he'd told her to do. She was saving herself.

* * *

Elena read the email over and over again.

 _From: Alaric Saltzman  
Subject: The plan for next week_

 _Hello everyone,_

 _I'm sure you've all missed me terribly during my leave. Jo and baby Olivia are doing great. Thank you for all of your caring emails to check on us. While I still have one week left before I'm due to return back, Mr. Salvatore has had an international business trip come up next week so there will be no classes. Instead, please see the attached reading assignments and be prepared for a test on this material when I return a week from tomorrow. I'm excited to see all of your smiling faces in my classroom again._

 _P.S. Do the reading.  
P.P.S. Seriously, do the reading._

After making her way home in an empty limousine on Friday night, she'd passed directly out into her bed. When she woke up on Saturday, she alternated her time between a bottle of Merlot and a research paper. Writing while intoxicated wasn't usually her style, but studying was the only other thing that could get her mind off of Damon. Otherwise, she'd drive herself crazy thinking about who he might have ended up going home with after she left the gala.

When she woke up Sunday morning to the email from Professor Saltzman, she'd sort of just laid in her bed and stared at the screen. She'd read it a million times and she couldn't help but think that Damon pulling out of teaching the class was because of her. After all, she'd asked him for space. Maybe this was his way of giving it to her and the business trip was just an excuse.

"I hate this," she mumbled to herself as a knock sounded on her door. "Come in," she called.

Bonnie poked her head in through the cracked doorway. "Are you planning to hide up here all weekend? Last weekend you were clamoring to burst out of this room and now you're refusing to talk to any of us."

"He's fleeing the country to get away from me," she said, throwing her phone onto the floor and covering her head with a pillow.

"Because you told him you needed space," Bonnie added as she down next to Elena.

Elena peeked her head out from underneath the warmth of her pillow and quirked an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

"Damon told Enzo, Enzo told Caroline, Caroline told me. Not that you're asking for my opinion, but I think you did the right thing. You need to get all of this Kai stuff behind you before you can even think about being with someone else and when you do decide to be with someone else, I'm hoping he's less of a project than Damon. You tend to like the men you feel like you need to fix."

"I know," Elena groaned, sitting up in her bed and hugging her knees. "I'm working on that."

"Eventually being alone won't feel so lonely," Bonnie advised.

"I'm not afraid of being alone."

"Are you sure about that?" Bonnie asked her.

Elena could always count on Bonnie to never sugarcoat anything. She was always loving, but she never felt the need to mask what she had to say with pleasantries. It was one of the things they'd connected on during freshman year of college. She appreciated a good sass mouth. Hell, sometimes her own lack of a filter got her in trouble. Times like this though, she just wished Bonnie was more afraid to call her out and even more than that, she wished that Bonnie wasn't absolutely right.

Elena rested her chin on her knee. "Don't make me admit it."

"I'm not saying it because I want to hear that I'm right."

"I know, but I just don't want to admit it out loud."

Bonnie leaned her head on Elena's shoulder. "Then you don't have to."

Once Bonnie left to take her Grams to church, Elena had the house to herself. Caroline had basically spent the entire weekend at Enzo's apartment, which was much better than the alternative of him staying at their house. Like she'd told them on Friday night, happy couples made her nauseous.

It only took two bottles of wine before she was hovering her finger over Damon's contact in her phone. Yeah, she had asked for space but putting oceans between them was more than she'd asked for. The fact that he'd just up and left the country kept rubbing her the wrong way the more she thought about it. She just wanted a couple of days away from him. That's all. She didn't want him to hop on a plane to Europe or Asia or wherever in the world he'd decided to go.

Under the influence of plenty of alcohol and full of attitude, she pressed his name on the screen and held the phone up to her ear. If he thought he was just going to leave the country without so much as a word, he was sorely mistaken. It rang a couple of times and she was just about to change her mind and hang up when he answered.

"Elena?" he asked, probably bewildered that she was calling him.

"You know, you cannot just flee the country whenever I push you away. That's not how this works," she slurred, swirling her red wine around in her glass and taking a large gulp. "You push me away all of the time and I just stick around. I just stick around for some reason."

"Are you drunk?" He seemed a little concerned.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not." She hiccupped. "You wouldn't know because you're in Africa."

"I'm in Vancouver," he corrected.

"Whatever. Well wherever you are, you aren't here," she said defiantly.

"You asked me to give you space."

"Yeah, as in don't call me for a couple days kind of space! Not fly far away from me kind of space!"

"Is there someone there to take care of you?" Damon asked, completely avoiding the confrontation she was trying to have with him.

"Nope."

"Elena, you can't be left alone with Kai out there. Call someone to come home, please."

Elena rolled her eyes. "You don't get to worry about me. I'm not allowed to ask you about your ex-fiancé or your brother so you don't get to worry about me. You won't just admit that you have feelings for me so you don't get to worry about me."

"Hey, calm down. You're getting really upset," Damon tried to soothe her to no avail.

"I am calm and things are very clear. I can't fix you because you don't want to be fixed. Goodbye Damon." Elena ended the call and tossed her phone onto the floor across the room. If he called back, she wasn't planning on answering.

She refilled her almost empty wine glass, grabbed the bottle, and padded downstairs. One perk of being alone in the house was that she could watch whatever she wanted on TV without judgment. She was just about to turn on Netflix when someone started pounding on her front door.

* * *

 **A/N: I know this is a shorter chapter than usual, but this was a good place to end it for flow purposes.**

 **I also know that there will be some people who are upset that I've separated DE. Just trust me that this will lead to really great plots and character development.**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hi dutiful (and beautiful) readers! First and foremost, THANK YOU for leaving over 100 reviews for this fic. I am beside myself with joy right now. I want you to know that I read each and every one of them, even if I can't always respond.**

 **Super long Author's Note at the end!**

* * *

 **I'd rather forget and not slow down than gather regret for the things I can't change now**

He'd finally decided he was going to come for her. Elena knew who it was and she didn't need to open the door to confirm it. All the giddiness of the wine from earlier left her system almost immediately. It's funny how a rush of adrenaline can just wipe away two bottles of Pinot in an instant.

She gingerly made her way to the front door to double check that it was locked and slowly latched the deadbolt into place, hoping that he couldn't hear it secure.

There was no such luck.

"Elena, I can hear you. Open up. I just want to talk." Kai's voice was calm, eerily calm, but she'd been through this enough times to know what was boiling beneath the surface of that calmness.

"You can't be here. You're not supposed to be within 100 feet of me," she shakily answered from behind the safety of the front door.

"I'm not here to hurt you."

"I'm not opening the door." She stood her ground. Two things could happen if she opened that door and neither were good. He could manipulate her, smooth things over, and convince her to drop the charges. It would put her right back where she started and she'd fought tooth and nail just to make the little bit of progress she'd already made. Or he could become angry that she wasn't going to take him back and drop the charges, in which case he'd probably lash out at her and after the last time he'd laid hands on her, she didn't want to take the risk of getting hurt again.

All too quickly, she knew that Kai was leaning into the second option.

"If you do not open this door," he pounded onto the wood with his fist, his voice containing a tinge of rage. Then he paused and she could hear him take a deep breath to calm down. "I've had a lot of time to think. I don't know if you remember, but I was sitting in jail for a couple of days and I had time to think about us. Let's just talk." His tone had returned to normal again.

"Please don't make me call the police," she pleaded with him, pressing her forehead against the door. She was hoping he would just leave on his own. Things were already bad enough for him. He didn't need this charge on top of everything else.

"If you won't let me in, I'll just talk to you through the front door then."

Elena sighed as she sat down on the floor. She wanted to show him a little mercy, even after everything that had happened. "Talk."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to push you. You know I'd never intentionally hurt you." He sounded incredibly sincere and remorseful. "Seeing you get so upset over him, I saw red. I was so angry that you were choosing him over me and I lost it."

"He doesn't see me in that way, Kai," she justified to him.

"But you feel for him. You forget that I know you. Elena, I know you very well and I know when you're falling for someone because the way that you looked at him at that bar, well that was the way you used to look at me."

Right now, he sounded a lot like the guy she fell for three years ago. It was the guy she knew was still buried down beneath all of that bullshit and she regretted that things had to go so awry for that guy to emerge again. A couple of weeks ago, she would have thrown open that door and took him into her arms, savoring the moment with person she used to love before he disappeared again underneath the abusive exterior she'd come to more recently know.

She couldn't do that now though because she knew that person didn't really exist anymore. Even if she got glimpses of him, she'd never truly have him back and she couldn't spend her life waiting for five minutes of happiness here or 30 seconds less of manipulation there. It just wasn't healthy and she was saving herself finally. She knew what she needed to do.

"Thank you for your apology," she said to him, pressing her hand against the closed door.

"Can I come inside now?" he asked, a glimmer of hope in his voice.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Thank you for your apology, but I can't let you inside and I can't drop the charges." Elena could feel the tears pooling up on the corners of her eyes. This would have been so much easier if he was just behaving like the asshole she was expecting would be knocking at her door. Instead, his demeanor was a painful reminder of what they used to have.

"I think if you could just look at me, we could work this out."

"That's what I'm afraid of," she responded.

"I just need to talk to someone and you're the only person that I feel like can understand me right now. Please open the door, Elena. Please," he begged.

Elena buried her face into the palms of her hands, freely letting the painful tears fall. "I can't. I can't. Please stop asking. If you ever loved me, you'll stop asking me to let you inside."

"I'm terrified of being trapped inside of my own head. The things I think, the things that I do. I'm scared of myself."

"I think you need someone to talk to and I really wish I could be that person for you right now. I really, really do," she sniffled. "I just can't. I'm so sorry, Kai." Elena began to stand up as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm going to go upstairs now. Please go home. You can't stay out there."

She turned and began to take long steps up the staircase, never chancing a glance back to the front door. She didn't hear him yell. She didn't hear him scream. She just heard the deafening silence of what it felt like to be alone.

* * *

By the time Caroline and Bonnie came home on Sunday night, Elena had done enough sulking to last her a lifetime. She was sulking because things with Kai were finally over and done with. She was sulking because she'd essentially told Damon he was unfixable and she was afraid that she was right. She was sulking because for the first time in three years, she didn't have anyone she could count on to hold her at night when she was lonely.

"Get up, take a shower, and get dressed because we're going out for drinks and dancing," Caroline said as she burst into Elena's room. She flipped the light switch on. Elena had been sitting alone in the dark for hours.

"We have class tomorrow," Elena groaned, throwing the covers of her bed over her face.

Caroline snatched the blanket off of Elena and looked down at her. "Your early class is cancelled. Word travels fast so get up. You've done enough sulking over Damon and you need a night out with your friends."

"Can't we just stay in and binge on ice cream instead?" she beseeched. Elena didn't feel like getting dressed up to go to a club full of sweaty, drunk people. After all, wasn't clubbing what introduced Damon into her life in the first place? It was bad enough that she had to deal with the worst break-up of all time with Kai, but adding falling for Damon on top of everything made it all worse.

"No way. You need to see the outside of this house." Caroline tried her best to pull Elena out of bed.

"Finals are coming up soon. I need to finish research papers and study tomorrow morning. I can't be hungover," she protested.

"Bonnie!" Caroline beckoned. "Please tell Elena that she has to come out with us for at least two drinks."

Bonnie peered around the corner of Elena's doorway. "Two drinks, Elena. C'mon. You need this. You deserve this."

"Fine, two drinks and then I'm going home," she relented, climbing out of bed and trudging to the shower. The cleansing water washed over here and Elena realized it had been a couple days since she'd even bothered to shower. Yeah, she was that bad off.

Luckily, her best friends knew this was what she needed. Throughout their friendship, Bonnie and Caroline had become great at knowing what she needed to feel better. Sometimes it was Netflix marathons and junk food, sometimes it was sulking in her bed with the lights off, and sometimes she just needed to feel thrilled and beautiful and alive. Tonight was the latter.

As she waited for her hair to dry, she tried on dress after dress. None of them made her feel even remotely better about the state of her life right. She wrapped herself in a robe and made her way across the hall to Caroline's room. "I'm borrowing something slutty to wear," she said. "If you're making me do this, I might as well look damn good."

Elena plucked a tight red dress with a cutout back out of Caroline's closet and tried it on. The fabric stretched across her body in all of the right ways and it made her feel sexy. She turned from the full length mirror to get Caroline's approval.

Caroline was already smiling proudly. "Yep," she nodded. "I'll do your hair."

The three of them danced around the house, blasting 90s pop songs, and crowding in front of mirrors to do their makeup. It was the first time they'd had a girl's night out in weeks and truthfully, it was long overdue.

"Okay," Caroline stood in the opening of their front door with her hand planted on her hip. She looked at Bonnie and Elena, as she pointed at them. "Tonight is about us. That means no texting our boyfriends," she looked over to Bonnie. "And no moping about our ex-boyfriends or ex-flings or ex-substitute professors or ex-whatevers," she looked at Elena. Then she plastered a mega-watt smile on her face, her peach lipstick making it stand out even more. "Got it?"

"Just let send this one last picture to Jeremy," Bonnie said, snatching her phone from her clutch and typing out a quick text message. "He wanted to see me in this dress."

"I so do not want to know what he plans to do with that picture," Elena laughed and it was the first time she'd laughed in a really, really, long time. She needed this.

Caroline called a cab to come pick them up. Normally someone would volunteer to be the designated driver, but they all three agreed that it would be a much better time out if they were all equally inebriated. Once the cab stopped in front of the busy nightclub, they all climbed out and went to stand in line. Only in New York City would there be a line out the door for a club on a Sunday night.

"This is crazy. Have you seen us?" Caroline rolled her eyes, gesturing to Elena and Bonnie. "We are not waiting."

"It's fine, Care. The line is actually moving pretty quickly," Bonnie reassured her.

"Wait here. I'll be right back for you guys," Caroline said as she stepped out from behind the ropes. She walked up to the large tattooed guy at the front door and started talking to him. Elena couldn't hear the conversation, but she was pretty sure she got the gist of it just based off of body language.

Her beautiful, blonde, best friend was trying to flirt her way into the nightclub and the bouncer was totally falling for it. A couple seconds later, Caroline motioned to Bonnie and Elena with her hand, urging them to meet her up front at the door.

"She's going to get us kicked out," Bonnie murmured to Elena as they step outside of the line and walked to the front.

"I think we've got this," Elena smiled back. Caroline was kind of a pro at these kinds of things.

"Bobby, these are my friends Elena and Bonnie," Caroline introduced them to the man. "You don't suppose we could all get in there together?" She pouted her lips at him.

Her lips weren't what his eyes were looking at though. They were obviously directed at her chest and he reached into his pocket for a bronze colored coin. "Give this to them when you get to the ropes inside and they'll set you up with a spot."

"Oh, thank you!" Caroline clapped her hands, jumping up and down. "You've made our night. We won't forget this. I know I certainly won't." She winked at him, took the coin from him, and made her way inside. Elena and Bonnie were trailing behind her, Bonnie with a shocked look on her face, and Elena with a satisfied grin.

Once they were inside, Caroline turned around and smiled at the two of them. "Say hello to our ticket to the VIP area!" she exclaimed, holding up the coin.

They'd been to this club a couple of times before, but never even been close to the VIP area before. It was usually only filled with the spoiled adult children of rich CEOs or young celebrities.

"No one is allowed to tell Enzo about the bouncer thing. He hates when I use my looks for personal gain," Caroline laughed. "He hates it particularly when I use it on him, but he probably wouldn't like it if he knew I used it on other people too."

"You are incorrigible," Bonnie bantered, shaking her head as they started to make their way upstairs.

"Well incorrigible or not, she got us in VIP! That means we're very important tonight!" Elena smirked.

"We are very important every night!" Bonnie replied.

Once they came to the roped off area with comfortable couches and tables, another bouncer stopped them. "Sorry ladies, this area is reserved. There's other places to sit downstairs though."

Caroline held up the coin she'd been given. "I was told to give you this."

"Then that area over there is for you three," the bouncer took the coin and pointed to a large white couch that wrapped around a table. There was a chilled bottle of champagne sitting in an ice bucket in the center. "The champagne is on the house, if you need to order more drinks just flag down Jessica and she'll bring them to you."

Once they were seated on the couch around the table with three glasses of bubbly champagne poured, an awestruck Elena turned to Caroline. "What exactly did you offer to do for this guy in order for us to get in here?"

"I told him that he had nice tattoos," Caroline shrugged, taking a sip from her glass.

"And that compliment got us in here?" Bonnie asked.

"I may have also told him that Elena was having the worst month of her life and proceeded to overshare the details. He felt bad for you."

"You used my disastrous love life to your advantage?" Elena yelled at Caroline.

Caroline smiled a devilish smile. "It got us in here, didn't it?"

Elena nodded her head. "I suppose it did." She chugged the rest of her champagne. "If we're VIPs tonight, I am having way more than two drinks."

* * *

This hangover was the hangover that all other hangovers had nightmares about. Every time she opened her eyes and let in a little bit of light, Elena's head started throbbing. Worse than that, she couldn't remember how they'd gotten home last night. Luckily, she woke up in her bed so they had actually gotten home safely. She had a momentary panic attack as she rolled over and saw a sleeping figure lying next to her. Oh no, not this again. The one random club hookup had been trouble enough, thank you very much.

The figure threw the covers off of their head and Bonnie emerged, eyeliner smudged and hair a mess. "Can you stop shaking the bed?" she quietly grumbled, her voice hoarse.

"Can you stop yelling?" Elena answered back, covering her ears with her hands. Somehow, sound was worse for her head than light.

"Where's Caroline?" Bonnie asked Elena, her own eyes still firmly closed.

Elena shrugged as she massaged her temples. "Don't ask me. I don't remember anything after drink seven."

"I'm right here!" Caroline loudly bellowed, raising her hand but remaining safely tucked underneath a blanket on the floor next to Elena's bed.

"Shhhhh!" Bonnie and Elena both shushed to her at the same time.

A knock came from Elena's bedroom door and the three girls all threw their pillows over their heads.

"Too loud," Elena complained.

"Too early," Caroline whined.

"You lot are so pitiful. No one wanted to eat anything or drink water last night. You all insisted that you had to sleep in the same room because of some stupid girl's night code. It was all I could do to pry you out of that club while you were still conscious," Enzo's voice lectured as he pushed Elena's bedroom door open.

"How are you the responsible one here?" Bonnie took her pillow off of her head and tried to open her eyes to look at him.

Enzo gestured to Elena. "Because after this one here decided to drunk dial Damon at three in the bloody morning, he called and woke me up and asked me to come get you. Let me tell you that bouncer out front was very sad to learn you," he pointed to Caroline "had a boyfriend."

Caroline sat up and pouted her bottom lip. "Aw, Enzo. Don't be mad."

"I'm not mad. I'm just saying it isn't polite to use your beautiful face against people," he lectured. "Now get up and get some showers and do whatever it is you do on Mondays. I have to get to work and run a company since the CEO ran off to Canada for an indeterminate amount of time." He walked over and pecked a kiss on Caroline's forehead.

"He didn't say when he'd be back?" Elena asked Enzo as he was heading out the door.

Enzo shook his head. "He just said he needed to get out of New York for a while and that he'd be back once he'd cleared his head. He's got a cabin up there that he runs off to every now and then."

"Oh," was all Elena could muster out.

It was difficult to move much after that. Elena laid still in her bed as Bonnie and Caroline pried themselves up and got ready for their days. Once she was left alone and knowing she should be heading to the library to study before classes started, she trudged her way downstairs to the kitchen so that she could chug as much water as her body would possibly let her. It was the only thing that ever helped her hangovers.

As she sat at the kitchen table and sipped on her glass of water, she willed her head to stop pounding long enough for her to remember any what happened late last night. The last memory she had was taking shots with Bonnie and Caroline in the VIP area. After that, it was a blank screen until she'd woken up this morning. She didn't remember calling Damon, she didn't remember Enzo coming to get them, and she didn't remember getting home.

"I need to lay off the tequila for a little while," she mumbled to herself before propping her elbows up on the table and holding her aching head in her hands.

She thought about calling Damon to apologize for calling him last night, but she didn't even know what she'd said to him so it wasn't like it would be a sincere apology anyway. Besides, she'd already said her peace and wished him goodbye. She wasn't even supposed to call him last night, but drunk Elena didn't know that.

Instead, Elena resigned to finally taking a shower and washing off last night's grime. Not bothering to make herself look decent, she threw on an NYU hoodie and gray sweatpants then headed to campus.

Safely tucked away into a familiar study room in the library, she cracked open her finance book and started the reading that Professor Saltzman had assigned them. Finance always came easy to her. It was logical. It had rules. It made sense. She could easily get lost in the regulation of it all. It was easily controllable, easily calculated. Rather than having to take any kind of leaps on faith when it came to finance, you could just do a cost-benefit analysis.

Love was nothing like that. Being with Damon was nothing like that.

The fact of the matter was that she'd leapt and he wasn't there to catch her.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, Kai finally showed up (for those of you that were waiting for that other shoe to drop). I hope I surprised you with how their interaction went. It surprised Elena too. I'm trying to reiterate what Damon himself keeps reminding Elena. She can't base her life decisions off of whether she thinks people are good or bad (because everyone has a little of both - yes even Kai), but she has to think about what is good or bad FOR HER. It would be so easy to dehumanize Kai's character, but from my experience in bad relationships that is not always the case. Many times the abuser is damaged and scared and confused and they need to get help too, but that does not mean that it is a victim's responsibility to help them.**

 **A couple people were sad that we didn't get a DE dance last chapter and I'm totally with you on that. If only they would just get it together already! I promise you there's a heck of a dance coming before the story ends and it will be worth the wait. (I'm swooning just thinking about it.)**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: To those of you asking if last chapter is the last we will see of Kai, I'm not sure yet. I have two different endings to this planned out so we'll have to see where it ends up going. It will, however, be the last we'll hear from him for a little while. Life is about to bring on it's own new set of challenges for DE.**

 **But that's for later. Right now we have some good old Gilbert sibling time!**

* * *

 **Most stories have a hero that finds you make your past your past**

Putting the finishing touches on the last chocolate cupcake, Elena stared at the plate of sweet treats on the countertop in front of her. When she wasn't studying or in class, she'd been perfecting her baking skills all week. Her first batch on Monday night had been disastrous, with bits of eggshell sprinkled in it. The batch on Wednesday were so rock hard that it hurt Enzo's tooth when he'd bit into it. But by Friday evening, she'd mastered the recipe.

"What's with all the baking? I just got here and you're already trying to poison me?" Jeremy asked her as he leaned against the countertop next to her.

"Oh shut up. These are delicious," Elena smiled as she handed one to her little brother.

"I'll pass," he said, leaning away from the baked good.

"Suit yourself," she said as she took a bite from it.

"She's still baking?" Bonnie asked as she walked into the kitchen and planted a kiss on Jeremy. "She's been at this all week."

"It helps me not think about things," Elena said, her mouth full of chocolate cupcake. "Try one."

"Oh, I'm good. After the Enzo incident on Wednesday, I am not putting anything you've cooked into my mouth. I value my teeth," Bonnie teased.

"Tell me Enzo isn't a new boyfriend or something," Jeremy pleaded. "I hated the last one. Can't imagine a guy named Enzo would be any better."

Elena snorted at the statement. "Hardly. Enzo is Caroline's new boyfriend, not mine. I'm not dating anyone right now and probably not again for a long time."

"Elena had a crush on a hot millionaire, but we aren't allowed to talk about it," Bonnie whispered to Jeremy. "It didn't work out. He had issues."

Elena rolled her eyes. She was standing right next to them and could clearly hear Bonnie. "She's right. So instead of moping about it, I'm making chocolate cupcakes and studying to ace all of my finals."

"And hanging out with your awesome brother this weekend," Jeremy added.

"That too. Speaking of, want to go to The Half Pint and grab some beers? I can't believe you're 21 now. We've never been out drinking together!" Elena picked up her piping bag and squeezed some frosting out onto her finger to eat.

"If it'll get you to put down the chocolate icing, I think we should do it," Jeremy nodded.

"Hey, this kitchen is a judgment free zone. Got it?" Elena pointed her finger at him, frosting still on it. "I will wipe this all over your shirt."

"You're bluffing." Jeremy crossed his arms.

"Try me, little bro."

Jeremy picked up the piping bag from the countertop and aimed it's nozzle at Elena. "I'll shoot if you do."

"It's like I'm stuck with five year olds right now!" Bonnie interrupted, but it was too late.

Elena reached forward and wiped the dab of frosting across the front of Jeremy's favorite Yankees tshirt. Without pause, Jeremy squeezed the piping bag and frosting came flying at Elena's hair. That prompted Elena to pick up a cupcake and smash it on top of Jeremy's head. Pretty soon the kitchen was a mess of laughter, flying chocolate, and sibling rivalry.

"Hey, hey!" Bonnie said, trying to break the two of them up. Instead, Jeremy accidentally pelted her on the cheek with a little frosting. That was it. Bonnie gave up on breaking it up and instead joined in on the madness.

Once the three of them were all wearing the chocolate cupcakes and frosting and there was nothing left to throw, they collapsed out of breath onto the kitchen floor.

Giggling and tired, Bonnie looked over to Jeremy. "Are you happy with yourself?"

Jeremy nodded, laughed, and then reached over to Bonnie to swipe a dollop of frosting off of the tip of her nose. He licked the frosting off of his finger. "Yeah. I'm pretty satisfied."

"Gross. Get a room!" Elena grumbled, standing up from the floor. She slipped at the last minute and fell directly back down. "I guess I'll just lay here for a little while."

After a while of the three of them laying there in silence, the front door opened and then slammed shut. The sound of heels clicking on the floor could be heard approaching them.

"What the hell happened?" Caroline's voice screamed as she walked into the kitchen. "Did Betty Crocker throw up in here?"

Bonnie popped up from behind the counter. "Those pesky Gilberts. You know they're mischievous when they get together." She lowered her voice and whispered to Caroline "Can we take a moment to appreciate the fact that she's smiling though? She's going to be okay after all of this is over."

"Not a doubt in my mind that she would be. She's strong," Caroline replied.

"And she can hear you talking about her," Elena said as she pulled herself up by the countertop, careful not to fall this time.

"Where's baby Gilbert?" Caroline asked.

"Present and accounted for," Jeremy answered, standing up as well.

Caroline planted her hand on her hip. "So which one of you is cleaning this up?"

Elena and Jeremy both pointed to each other.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Gilberts, get to cleaning. Dibs on the shower first."

* * *

With everyone showered and dressed to go, they all piled themselves into Enzo's car and made their way to The Half Pint.

"So Enzo, how'd you two meet each other?" Jeremy grilled from the backseat, his hand laced with Bonnie's.

Caroline turned around and gave Jeremy a pointed look. "I don't need a brother to give him the talk, baby Gilbert."

"Oh nonsense. He's just being friendly, right?" Enzo smiled the most non-intimidating smile he could give as he made his way through the heavy traffic. Caroline made him promise that he would be on his best behavior tonight and he was a little scared of what would happen if he wasn't.

She'd made Jeremy promise the same thing, but he wasn't as scared.

"You're friends with the guy my sister had the hots for, right?" Jeremy asked him, swiftly receiving an elbow to the ribs from Bonnie.

"Enough," Caroline barked at him. "We try not to talk about Damon too much. Things didn't exactly end well between them."

"He exists and he's Enzo's best friend. It isn't like he won't come up in conversation," Elena added, rolling her eyes at her friend's overprotective nature. "I'm fine. Honestly, I'm fine hearing about him."

"You've singlehandedly consumed the same amount of chocolate as Augustus Gloop did in the chocolate factory and you remember what happened to him," Bonnie pointed out. "You are so not okay right now."

"Enzo, there's too much estrogen and feelings back here. Any way you can roll the windows down?" Jeremy asked him.

"I'm going to like you, little Gilbert. You're a wise ass," Enzo smirked, reaching for the buttons that would put the automatic windows down.

"I'm mentally pocketing and fully intend to hold every single wise ass comment over your head when we get back home later," Bonnie whispered to Jeremy.

"So long as I still get laid," Jeremy told her, winking in her direction.

Elena covered her ears. "Um, big sister? In the car? Right here? With you?"

The rest of the drive consisted of small talk and before long they were pulling into a parking deck near The Half Pint. Being a college bar, Enzo's Tesla stood out from the rest of the older Honda Accords and the like that surrounded them. He must have checked at least four times to make sure his doors were locked before they headed for the bar.

"For the record, we are taking a cab home. I am not staying sober tonight," Enzo said as he raised his glass of beer at Elena. "If I must drink at this dive bar, I will indeed drink until I now longer care about the fact that this bowl of beer nuts has probably been sitting here for three months."

"Who will keep me from drunk dialing your best friend then?" Elena asked him, smiling as she sipped her beer.

"That would be me," Jeremy leaned over to her, chugging what was left of his first beer of the night. Everyone else had only taken a couple sips from theirs.

"Psh, yeah right. He'll be on the floor before the rest of us have even finished our first drink if he keeps that up," Caroline joked. "We better all pick up the pace if we want to keep up with Frat Star over here." She chugged her beer and ordered another.

"Elena, if you want to call him, just give in and call him. He likes hearing from you," Enzo quietly said to her. Caroline and Bonnie were preoccupied with making fun of Jeremy so they didn't hear him.

"I told him that I had feelings for him and he left the country," she said, raising her eyebrows.

"You also told him you needed some space."

Elena chuckled. "Not that much space!" She finished her beer and set the empty glass onto the bartop in front of her.

"You're the closest thing Damon has had to a relationship since Katherine. That should mean something to you, right?" Enzo asked, signaling to the bartender for two more beers. "He cares about you in his own way. He's just shit at showing it."

"Language!" Caroline shouted over her shoulder at Enzo. "Best behavior! You promised! I will make you started drinking every time you curse if you keep that up."

"She hears everything," Elena shrugged to a confused Enzo.

"She wasn't even bloody listening," he hissed.

"Drink for your swear!" Caroline chastised him.

"Bloody is not a swear word," Elena tried to defend Enzo.

"It is in Fancyman language!"

Elena clamped her hand on Caroline's shoulder. "How can you be tanked already?"

"Oh, I'm not but Enzo likes it when I'm difficult. It makes for great sex later," Caroline told her in a hushed tone.

"Is everyone seriously fucking except for me?" Elena yelled, looking up to the sky above her.

"Drink for your swear word, Elena!" Jeremy teased her before she shot him a threatening look. He hung his head low. "Sorry, sis. I didn't mean it."

"Maybe Damon fled the country because you gave him that look," Enzo nudged Elena and she smiled. "It's pretty terrifying, honestly."

"Oh, shut up," she responded. "All of you shut up and someone get me another beer."

Five beers and many hilarious conversations later, Elena looked in the mirror of the crappy bathroom, stumbling a little to maintain her balance. Her cheeks were a little rosy from the beers she'd had, but she was nowhere near intoxicated enough to be sick. She was, however, intoxicated enough to fetch her phone out of her clutch and scroll through her contacts for Damon's name.

"I'm always calling you when I'm drunk," she mumbled to no one in particular as she let the phone ring. It rang several times, but then went straight to voicemail. "Figures he wouldn't answer."

Roughly shoving her phone back where it came from, she stared at herself in the mirror again. "You need to get it together, Elena Gilbert. Get your shit together."

It wasn't very eloquent as far as pep talks went, but it was enough. She needed to stop calling Damon. He'd come back home when he came to his senses and he'd better damn well hope she was still pining after him when he did because she didn't need to wait around for anyone anymore. She'd been doing the whole living for yourself thing for a little over a week now and it was getting easier with each passing day. The amount of cupcakes she'd baked may have told her roommates otherwise, but she was healing. She was getting there.

She flung the door of the bathroom open and stepped out into the crowded bar, standing of her toes to try and find her brother and friends. Luckily, Jeremy was so tall that his head stuck out from above the crowd and she easily spotted him. She pushed her way through the groups of people, but felt someone gently grab her wrist from the crowd as she passed by them. Her first instinct was to turn around and take a swing at whoever it may have been that was grabbing at her, but when she whipped her head around she was met with a familiar face from her finance class.

"Please don't hit me!" Jesse cringed at her hand, which was raised into a fist in the air and coming directly at him.

Elena pulled back once she realized who it was and her hands flew to cover her mouth. "Oh sorry! I thought you were some creep trying to snatch me."

"I tried getting your attention by yelling your name, but you didn't hear me. Sorry I grabbed you," Jesse responded, looking at her with a smile. "You look really beautiful tonight."

She started laughing at him, so hard that she had to hold onto her stomach.

"That was really lame, wasn't it?" he asked, cracking a laugh as well.

Elena nodded at him.

"I don't normally approach intimidatingly attractive girls," he shyly shuffled his feet underneath him. It was kind of endearing how timid he was being. "My friends are trying to get me out of my shell a little more." He pointed to a group of guys behind him who were intently watching their exchange, but clearly trying to pretend that they weren't.

Elena didn't really know Jesse that well. She knew that aside from her of course, he was the smartest student in her finance class. She knew that he always sat up front and took really detailed notes. He rarely raised his hand in class and when he did, he always blushed when he had to speak in front of the class. She once had to miss a class and Jesse had been gracious enough to let her copy his notes in the hallway, but they hadn't really talked much other than that. Kai didn't like it when Elena had male friends so she made it a point to keep her distance from him.

"Well I'd hate to have your friends disappointed in you," she said to him, digging a pen out of her clutch. She reached a hand in his direction. "Tell you what, give me your palm."

Shocked expression and all, Jesse held his out to Elena palm-side up. "People still write phone numbers on hands?" he asked.

"I do when I want to make an impression. I could put it in your phone, but then I'd be one of about a million contacts and this way you have to stare at my number all night." She smiled at him as she scribbled her phone number onto his palm. There was something very safe and non-threatening about Jesse that Elena kind of enjoyed. For one, he was the anti-Kai in every sense. Plus he was interested in her, which was more than she could say for Damon. Maybe this new version of her could enjoy a casual date with a perfectly nice guy. I mean, why not?

"Expect me to actually use this number," he warned.

"I should hope so," Elena replied, putting her pen away. "See you in class on Monday! Should be a good last week before finals."

* * *

Rather than her usual seat in the back of finance class on Monday morning, Elena slid into a desk in the front row next to Jesse. True to his word, he'd actually texted her when she got back from the bar that night and they'd talked off and on the rest of the weekend as well. Jesse gave her a shy smile as she sat down.

"Did you have a good weekend?" he quietly spoke to her, leaning a little into her proximity.

"I did. I got to spend a lot of time with my not so little anymore brother," Elena smiled. It had been nice to see Jeremy, even if she did have to pry him out of Bonnie's bedroom for a little one on one time. Seeing her brother always brought things into perspective for her. They didn't have their parents anymore. Aside from their Aunt Jenna, who they mostly saw around the holidays, her family just consisted of Jeremy now. Since the death of her parents, it had really brought them closer.

"Do you have any plans tonight?" Jesse asked her.

"I have a huge term paper staring me in the face but other than agonizing over that, I'm free as a bird."

"Well you have to take a break to eat, right?" he urged. "I mean, everyone has to eat."

"Are you trying to ask me out?" Elena smiled at him.

His cheeks flushed red and he nodded his head.

She thought long and hard about how she wanted to respond. Saying no would be the easy part. She didn't see much of a future with Jesse. He was a perfectly nice guys, but he was too shy for her boldness. She would probably swallow him whole if given the opportunity and he wouldn't do a thing to stop her. Then again, she had literally nothing to lose. What could be the harm in giving him a chance? "I like Thai food. You can pick me up at seven," she answered, scribbling her address down on a piece of notebook paper and handing it to him.

Who knows? Maybe he'd pick up a little of her confidence along the way.

As Professor Saltzman entered the classroom, he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Good morning everyone. I'm back in time for a test and to get you guys ready for your final exam. In other words, I'm back for the fun stuff." He began to hand out the test on the reading material he'd assigned last week.

"No cheating," Jesse hissed at Elena, cracking a smirk and pretending to shield his test paper. "I see you trying to peek over here."

"Oh, please. Only if I wanted to fail," Elena sassed back.

"Ms. Gilbert, Mr. Warren, I trust that whatever you're talking about would best be shared with the rest of the class," Professor Saltzman called them out.

Elena shook her head no and focused back onto the paper in front of her. She was, of course, the first person to finish her test so she took it up to the front to hand it in.

"All done," she smiled proudly as she placed the paper into a tray on the corner of the desk.

Professor Saltzman looked to be going over some lessons in a notebook, but he took a moment to look up at Elena. "Thank you, Ms. Gilbert. There's study guides for the final right there. Be sure to take one before you leave."

She nodded and reached to grab from the stack he'd indicated. As she turned around to grab her bag and make her way out of class, he called after her.

"Ms. Gilbert?"

"Hm?" Elena said, turning around.

"Damon said you were one the brightest young minds he's ever encountered. Don't think I take that opinion lightly," he whispered to her, so as not to disturb the other students from their tests. "Damon doesn't usually give unsolicited compliments so rest assured that I will be pushing you much harder from now on." He slid a piece of paper across the desk to her. "This is a list of companies that are still accepting applications for paid summer internships. You need to apply. Don't waste your potential, Ms. Gilbert."

Elena nodded again, said a quick thank you, and rushed from the room. Damon had talked to her professor about her? Why would he do that? It wasn't of any benefit to him to do it, but he'd taken the initiative to do so anyway. Damon believed in her. If there was one thing she could say about him, it was that he always believed in her abilities.

She looked at the paper listed with internships. These internships had the possibility to take her all over the world. London, Beijing, Rio de Janeiro, and many more. If Damon could take this kind of initiative and believe in her without anything to gain from it, why couldn't she do the same for herself?

* * *

 **A/N: Please don't hate me too much for bringing in a suitor for Elena! It will all lead us to where we want to go in the end, which is a happily ever after DE. (And just to reassure you all, I will NEVER write any explicit sex scenes that aren't DE. I'm okay putting them with other characters temporarily and I may say they have sex or something, but I wouldn't put you through the horrid details. Hell, I wouldn't put myself through writing that. My shipper heart couldn't take it.)**

 **Speaking of Damon, are you missing him terribly yet? I know I am. We have a time jump and then he'll be back next chapter … and he'll be jealous.**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hi again friends! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I've enjoyed writing it.**

* * *

 **And how I know you love me and how I want to love you back**

TWO MONTHS LATER

Elena pulled the curtains back in her tiny apartment, the late evening sunlight streaming inside of her window reflected off of her shiny brown waves. She was about a month into her summer internship and though she'd finally adjusted to the time difference, the view of East London outside of her window was still taking some getting used to.

She'd submitted her internship application for Mutual Financial on the final date before the deadline. They'd called her right away for an interview, offering her a paid position on the spot. Caroline, more excited for her than imaginable, had enlisted Enzo's help and immediately set to work finding her an affordable place to live over the summer in one of the trendiest neighborhoods. The best part? No strange roommates that she had to share the small space with.

She kicked her heels off of her feet and unzipped the back of her pencil skirt after a long day. Sighing to herself, Elena tried to massage her own neck with her hand. This internship was challenging her in all of the right ways, forcing her to think about finance in real world situations. It was interesting finally applying all of the theories she'd read about to the problems she encountered on a daily basis. Mutual was a top internship program and it was highly demanding, but this experience would give her a huge advantage going into her senior year in the fall. It was well worth the sore neck and feet.

Luckily, she hadn't had to jet off to London on her own. Jesse had landed an internship in London too, not at Mutual, but close by. The time they spent exploring and discovering a new city together had brought them closer. This wasn't an ideal time to start a new relationship and she wasn't even sure she'd considered what she had with Jesse to be a relationship. Despite all of the time they'd spent together and the perfectly fine kissing, they'd only tried to have sex once. After a drunken night out the pub, his elbow collided with her nose while he was trying to take her shirt off and it was kind of disastrous. They both conceded that maybe they should try again when they were sober, but had yet to do so.

Once Elena was comfortably changed into sweatpants and a tshirt, she took out her laptop and settled onto the couch to start working on some documents for Monday. It seemed the work never ended. Between the grueling 50 hour workweeks and darting around London with Jesse, it didn't leave much time for sleeping, she was appreciative of the opportunity that had been granted to her.

Sometime later, someone knocked on her apartment door just as she had started to delve into a cost-benefit analysis. Putting her laptop on the coffee table in front of her, she stood up to answer it.

"It's me!" Jesse's voice came from the other side of the door. He was always quick to identify himself when he was at her door. He got the sense that she was hiding out from someone, but he never really asked her any details about it. Elena was thankful for that because it meant that she didn't have to tell him anything about Kai or Damon and that left things uncomplicated between them.

She pulled open the heavy door and his smiling face emerged on the other side. "I brought dinner. I knew you probably wouldn't want to cook after a long week. If you fetched as many coffees as I did, you're probably ready for your feet to fall off."

Elena actually hadn't been asked to take any coffee orders at Mutual, surprisingly. She'd been given an office, a surprisingly large amount of autonomy, and a heavy workload from day one. They treated her as more than just a mere intern and it was completely unexpected, but refreshing. She wasn't about to rub that in Jesse's face though.

"Oh yeah. So many vanilla lattes. I think I reek of coffee beans permanently," she giggled. "Thank you for bringing over dinner."

He plopped the take out bag onto her small kitchen table and they sat down in the only two chairs, unpacking the containers from the bag. "It's kebabs," he said. "You had mentioned wanted to try some the other day."

Elena took an eager bite and moaned, instinctively covering her mouth after the sound escaped it. Jesse didn't seem to mind or notice. "I think I'm in love with kebabs," she said.

"Same," he agreed, nodding his head. "So what's the plan tonight?"

"Sarah and Jessa from across the hall invited us to go out with them for a couple pints later, but I just don't think I could stay awake long enough." She yawned, further proving her point.

"We could pound some coffee and make an honest effort?" he suggested.

"I'm good with that. Coffee then a shower then out with the neighbors," she relented. She braced herself for some snarky comment about joining her in the shower, but it never came.

They finished dinner and Elena brewed a French press of dark roast coffee for the two of them. She tried not to laugh as she watched Jesse load his with cream and sugar, but she couldn't help herself from smirking at least a little.

"What?" he asked, seemingly clueless.

"You're distorting the taste of perfectly good java," she threw out, shrugging her shoulders. "That's all."

After a couple cups of coffee, Elena left Jesse sitting in her living room flipping through Netflix on her laptop while she went to take a shower. She passed her comfortable bed on the way there and momentarily contemplated just crawling in and pulling the covers over her head, but she shook her head and headed for the bathroom.

She settled on wearing skinny jeans, a sleeveless patterned top with triangles on it, and white sandals. It was a warm evening, but she wasn't in the mood to put on a dress and make a huge effort. Before she did anything with her hair and makeup, she thought she'd better go across the hall to let the girls know that she'd decided to join them.

Passing by Jesse on her way out, she let him know that she'd be right back. She pulled open the door to her apartment and stepped out into the hallway in her bare feet, wet hair piled on top of her head in a clip. She raised her hand to knock on the door across from her.

Elena heard the elevator at the end of the hall ding followed by heavy footsteps. She didn't think much of it, but she took a quick glance over at the approaching figure. At first she didn't recognize him. It didn't even click in her head that she knew him. She almost turned her attention back to the door in front of her, but something told her not to. Something told her to keep her attention on the person walking down the hallway.

As he got closer, she realized it was him. He had grown a little bit of a beard since she'd last seen him. He was dressed so casually in jeans and a tshirt, something she'd rarely seen him in since they'd first met. But it was him and he was here.

"Imagine my surprise when I get back from Vancouver, show up at your house, and then find out you're in London," he smirked at her. "You know, you cannot just flee the country whenever I push you away," he mocked her earlier statement. "That's not how this works."

"Don't use my own drunk dial against me," Elena quipped, her body still trying to catch up with her mind. She was still attempting to process the fact that Damon was physically standing in front of her. "Besides, you fled first."

Damon outstretched his arms toward her once he'd gotten a few feet away. He stood there and stared at her, waiting for her to take a step closer to him but she remained still. "Is a hug too much to ask? I flew across the Atlantic Ocean to see you."

Elena took a deep breath. She wanted to yell at him. She wanted to pound on his chest and lecture him about how wrong it was that he left after she'd allowed herself to be so vulnerable, how much she had to force herself not to miss him, how deeply she still cared for him despite what her brain told her. She did none of that though, only choosing to shake her head no at him silently before watching his arms drop to his sides in disappointment.

He was too late. She'd finally chosen herself and she couldn't allow him to take advantage of her feelings again.

"I'm seeing someone else," she half-lied to him. She and Jesse weren't exclusive. They weren't really anything, but she needed him to know that she hadn't spent her time pining away for him after he ran off to Vancouver without so much as a goodbye.

"So Caroline told me when I showed up on your doorstep yesterday. I believe her exact wording was 'You're too late, you insensitive asshole. She's moved on. How dare you come here begging now?'" he imitated Caroline's voice and Elena turned her head away to hide the smile that formed. "Thus, me hopping on a plane to convince you that whoever that guy is, he's wrong for you."

The door to her neighbor's apartment opened up and a young blonde woman stepped out in the hallway. "Elena? Hey!" she greeted her in a thick British accent that rivaled Enzo's. "Are you guys coming to grab a pint with us?"

Elena looked at her neighbor then briefly at Damon before turning her attention back to the girl. "Hey Sarah! Yeah, I think we are. We'll be over as soon as my friend leaves."

Sarah positioned her head so that she could sneak a peek at Damon. "Your friend is hot," she whispered to Elena, quietly enough that Damon couldn't hear her.

"Don't remind me. Better yet, don't remind him," Elena said, cracking a grin. Damon didn't need any other women telling him attractive he was. He pretty much already knew that.

"Well we'll be here for at least another hour before we leave," Sarah told her. "Just knock when you're ready!"

Sarah's roommate, Jessa, a tall and leggy brunette poked her head through the crack in the door as well. "He's so hot. Is he American too?" Jessa murmured to Sarah. The fact that Damon overheard her was evident in his self-satisfied smirk.

"It's none of our bloody business," Sarah quipped to Jessa, before slamming their apartment door.

Once the door closed, Elena smacked Damon in the shoulder. "Stop it with the smirking!" she chastised.

"Are you going to invite me in?" Damon nodded his head in the direction of Elena's apartment door.

Elena bit her lip and looked back at the door behind her. "Um, probably not a good idea."

"What? Do you have your new guy in there or something?" Damon chuckled at his own joke, but he quickly realized Elena was not laughing too. "Oh," he said a little deflated. "You have the guy in there."

"Yeah," Elena admitted sheepishly as she nervously rocked back and forth.

"And you don't want me to meet him," he continued.

"You already know him kind of."

"If by some cosmic joke, my baby brother is in there then I give up right now on everything," Damon blew out, looking up the ceiling. "You hear that, God? I give up."

"It's not-" Elena started to explain, but she was cut off as her apartment door swung open behind her.

"Elena, it's been awhile. Did they change their minds or something?" Jesse obliviously asked, not even noticing Damon standing there at first because his attention was focused solely on Elena.

"Jesse Warren," Damon gritted out, his jaw visibly clenching.

Jesse took a step out into the hallway. "Damon? What are you doing here?" he asked, a confused look on his face. "Are you helping Elena with her internship or something?"

Damon ignored Jesse's questions completely, fixing his gaze on Elena. "Jesse Warren? Seriously, Elena? The guy is practically a helpless child!"

"Hey!" Elena pointed a finger at him. "Jesse's a good person!" she defended.

"Oh here we go again with the good person, bad person bullshit," Damon said as he threw his hands up and rolled his eyes.

"Uh, guys? Hello?" Jesse interrupted. "What's going on?"

Elena didn't want to explain everything to him right now. She just need to temporarily neutralize the situation. "Jesse, can we maybe go out another night? I need to talk to Damon for a little while. I promise to explain everything later."

Jesse flickered his eyes between Elena and Damon a couple of times, seemingly trying to decide how he should react. "Yeah, I guess," he said hesitantly before disappearing inside and reemerging with his shoes on. "I'll call you tomorrow," he said to Elena as he stood next to her and took her hand. It was a statement, but the way he said it sounded more like he was asking permission.

Elena smiled at him. "I'll answer," she reassured him.

Damon was leering at their interaction, practically ready to leap onto Jesse the minute he felt like they were getting too close for comfort.

As Jesse leaned in to kiss Elena on the cheek, Damon intervened. "Okay, that's enough. She said she'd talk to you tomorrow," he clamorously told him.

Elena took a deep breath. Who was he to show up on her doorstep months later and practically kick Jesse out of her apartment? Still, the way he was staring down Jesse made her fear that he'd say something that would start a confrontation and she was desperately trying to avoid the two of them having any kind of confrontation over her. She'd had enough jealous boyfriend behavior to fill a thousand buckets and then some. She wasn't interested in watching a showdown happen right here in the hallway.

"We'll talk tomorrow," she calmly told Jesse, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek while aggressively eyeing Damon and silently telling him to mind his own business.

Once the elevator doors closed and Jesse was out of sight, Elena turned her attention toward Damon. "Come inside," she said grouchily.

Damon chuckled at her mood. "Not exactly the invite I was expecting, but I'll take it."

Elena stepped inside her apartment, Damon following behind her. She shook her sandals off of her feet and made the short walk to the kitchen. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Bourbon?" Damon answered from the living room.

Elena poked her head around the corner and gave him a pointed look. "I don't have bourbon because I don't drink it."

"Wine?" He innocently shrugged at her. She watched as he picked up and studied a picture frame that rested on her coffee table. The picture had been taken at The Half Pint when Jeremy was in town. In it, Caroline, Bonnie, Jeremy, Elena, and Enzo were all crowded together in front of the bartop while smiling and clinking their glasses together. "Enzo's such a traitor," Damon muttered.

"He can't be that much of a traitor. He told you where to find me, didn't he? I know Caroline would never," Elena responded.

Damon sighed. "I had to yank it out of him, but yes."

"Hold that thought. I need alcohol for this," she said, going back to the kitchen to grab a couple glasses of wine. "It isn't the fancy stuff like you have at your place," Elena warned, handing him a glass of red wine.

"It'll do," Damon said, raising his glass slightly before taking a sip.

Elena plopped herself down onto the couch and Damon followed suit, leaving a little less room than she was entirely comfortable with. After not seeing him in the flesh for months, she'd forgotten how good he smelled and it was wreaking havoc on what little dignity she had left. "So you're here. Now what?" she asked him.

"This is already going differently than how I had planned in my head so I don't really know." He paused for a minute. "You're really into him?" he asked in disbelief.

"I am," Elena confidently answered. It wasn't exactly the truth, but she liked him well enough. It was more so the excuse of Jesse that she was using to prove a point to Damon. Damon hadn't exactly come out and said why he'd shown up in the first place, but she had the feeling he was armed with an apology and she wasn't about to let him worm his way back into her heart that easily. Not after what happened last time she let him in.

"The thought of you being with someone else drives me insane," Damon admitted, tipping his wine glass up to his mouth. "I don't want anyone else to touch you in that way."

"How do you think it made me feel?" she countered, arching an eyebrow at him. "Were there others?" she asked him point blank, nothing sugar coating her words. He looked at her in confusion so she clarified her question. "Besides Rachel, were you sleeping with anyone else?"

Damon hung his head low and the gesture spoke for itself.

Elena scoffed under her breath. "Of course you were. You know Damon, I have a life now. I have a life and you aren't in it and I'm mostly okay with that."

He didn't say anything, merely letting her say what she needed to get out.

"So let me guess. Now you're here and you're sorry and you're armed with some remorseful bullshit about how you didn't know what you had until it was gone? Well, I don't need to be with someone who's always sorry again. Kai was always sorry, always. How about instead of being sorry, you stop doing things you need to apologize for?" Elena unleashed a fury on him that she'd been bottling up for quite some time now. She narrowed her eyes at him as she spoke, shaking her head. "If you flew over 3,000 miles just to tell me you're sorry then save your breath because I have had enough sorrys to last a lifetime."

"Then I'm not sorry," Damon mumbled, finishing off the rest of his wine and placing his glass on the coffee table.

"Well what are you?" she questioned, an undertone of anger still in her voice.

"Painfully in love with an infuriating woman who will not stop pushing me to be a better version of myself," he declared, finally looking up at her. "You're so frustrating because you make me want to tell you things, weak spots about myself that I don't want people to know about. You make me reevaluate the way I've been living my life for the past two years. Before you came into it, I was just doing just fine. Sure, no one was writing love sonnets about me, but I was getting by before you came along. Then you spilled your drink on me and suddenly you have me questioning everything I thought I knew."

Elena's mouth fell open in shock at his words. She'd expected a lame apology followed by a proposal to remain good friends, maybe just with benefits. She'd rehearsed the way this conversation would probably go over and over in her head a million times and in none of those scenarios did Damon admit that he was in love with her. Maybe she was daft for not considering it, but when she'd laid her heart on the line the night of the charity gala, he'd kept his walls up so high that she couldn't even look over them.

"You're in love with me?" she asked, still astonished.

"Would I fly 3,000 miles to see someone I wasn't in love with?" he countered, reaching for her hand with his. "It's a long fucking flight, even on the company jet."

"Drink for your swear word," Elena laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

Damon shook his head. "What?"

"Nevermind." She grinned. "You'll learn about that when you get back to New York. Caroline's on a tear with cussing lately."

"Can't wait. So are you going to let me take you out on a date or not?" Damon asked with baited breath.

"You don't go on dates. If I had a nickel for every time I had to hear that phrase, I'd be in a nicer apartment right now."

Damon leaned towards her and placed his lips close to her ear. "I do with you."

His warm breath sent goosebumps down her body. Try as she might for the sake of her heart to take things slow, there was no denying that her body wanted him immediately. Instead of letting him see her reaction, she leaned away from him and took a sip from her wine glass. She moaned gently after she swallowed it, knowing what that did to him and doing it anyways.

In response, he rested his hand on her thigh, slowly tracing circles with his fingers over the fabric of her jeans. He was far enough away that it could be considered an innocent gesture, but close enough to where she was aching for him that she quickly realized he was a much better tease than she was. Elena tried to focus on her breathing and not the sensation of his hand on her leg, but it became increasingly difficult as he moved closer to her inner thigh.

It was like they were playing some sort of game of temptation chicken.

"You win," she relented, standing from the couch and letting his hand fall away from her.

"So about that date?" Damon pressed again.

"What about it?" she countered.

"Can I take you out on a date tomorrow night?"

Elena bit her bottom lip. She had a good thing going with Jesse, it was easy and not muddied by things like the past. She knew it wouldn't last, but it felt good to spend time with someone that could make life so simple. "I don't know," she began.

"Please, Elena? Please?" he groveled, physically going to his knees at her feet. "Just one date. If you still don't want to see me after that, you don't have to."

She looked down at him with adoration in her eyes. Kai had begged on his knees to her many times before. She was well versed in the apology routine by now. This felt different. It didn't feel like a manipulation of her feelings, but more of an admittance that she held the power now. She got to decide if she wanted this. "You get one date, one shot to convince me that I'm not a complete idiot for putting myself out there to you again."

Damon stood up and pressed his forehead against Elena's. "Well there's where you're wrong. You are not, nor have you ever been an idiot. You are the smartest person I know."

Elena allowed his hands to slip around her waist and she relaxed into his arms. It felt good to finally give into the urge to be close to him. She'd been fighting it for so long.

"I've been missing the way it feels to touch you," he rasped out. "We don't have to have sex, just let me touch you."

"I am a lady, Damon Salvatore!" Elena feigned offense, her hand flying to her chest in an exaggerated gesture. "You have to take me out on the date first!"

"Sorry, my lady. A kiss then?" he politely asked her.

Elena tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach that fluttered when Damon addressed her as his lady. She liked the sound of those words coming from his lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to capture her lips in a gentle and slow kiss. And there it was again, the warmth.

* * *

 **A/N: Damon's back! Let me know how you feel about it!**


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: *Waves timidly* Hi everyone. This chapter is a long time coming. I felt like there was a lot to live up to with it so I rewrote it five times and then the holidays happened and now my day job has entered our busy season so I didn't have time to edit it until today and I didn't have as much time to proofread as usual so apologies if there are more typos than usual. Sorryz. But it's here at least. And also FUCKING LONG.**

 **And reader beware (or be excited), there's some smutty goodness in it too.**

* * *

 **Are you gonna be my love? Are you gonna be mine?**

"So where are we going?" Elena asked Damon as they stepped out onto the streets of London. He'd told her to dress nice, told her he'd pick her up at seven-thirty sharp, but he refused to tell her what he had planned for their date. She was dying of curiosity.

She'd changed three times before deciding on a navy blue dress that swayed when she walked. It wasn't overly sexy, but it made her feel elegant. After Damon left last night, Elena had resigned herself to the fact that she still loved him. She never stopped loving him. She'd also made the decision to guard her heart this time. She'd leapt into too fast last time and she'd been burned for it. She couldn't allow herself to do that again so while she was letting Damon back into her life, she needed to keep him at a safe distance for a little while.

When she swung open her apartment door a few minutes ago, Damon was waiting on the other side with his hands nervously shoved into his pockets. He mumbled something about trying to get flowers for her but not being able to find anything that he thought she'd like, then raked his eyes up and down her body in a way that made Elena blush. Finally, he ushered her into the elevator with his hand gingerly placed on the small of her back. She'd begged him for details on their evening the entire ride down to the lobby, but he kept quiet. And now here they were walking down the sidewalks of East London, which Damon was navigating expertly.

"You'll find out when we get there," Damon smirked at her as they turned a corner. He was about to lead them across the street when he reached out and took her hand. It was a small gesture, not something that she really should have thought much of, except for the fact that he kept lightly brushing his thumb over her skin. It sent tingles to places that she wasn't allowed to thing about on first dates.

They came to a station to get on the tube and Elena eyed Damon curiously. Though the tube in London was much better than the New York's subway and she'd gotten comfortable taking it work each day, she'd expected Damon to needlessly shower her with lavish cars and champagne. This was actually kind of a pleasant surprise. "What, no private limo?" she teased him.

"I find that London is best experienced when you are actually in the thick of it," he told her, leading her to the station.

"I tend to agree, actually," she smiled at him as the doors to the train car closed behind them.

Never letting go of her hand, Damon led Elena to a seat on the train and let her sit down. They sat in silence for a bit as the train made a few stops.

"I feel like now that I gave the big I love you speech, I'm running out of things to say that will impress you," he commented as he stood up and led her off of the train.

Elena laughed. "You could always talk finance to me. I actually find it quite attractive."

"Debt securitization, loan to value ratio, venture capital," he whispered slightly seductively into her ear as they walked beside each other on the sidewalk.

"Now we're talking," she giggled lightly.

Damon chuckled. "You're not real. There's no way that you are real," he said. They rounded the corner and the London Aquarium came into view.

Elena's eyes lit up at the building. "I love this place!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

He bit his lip. "You've already been?" he asked, a tinge of jealousy in his voice. It was pretty obvious who had taken her there already.

"Well, yeah. It's one of the first places we went to," she quietly admitted as they came to a crosswalk. Elena felt a little guilty. Damon looked so disappointed. He'd clearly put some thought into this date and she hated to tell him that she'd already been there with Jesse. "I've been dying to go again though!" She tried her best to reassure him that she would still enjoy herself. "C'mon!" she said excitedly as she tugged him across the busy street towards the impressive building in front of them.

Damon held the door open for her as she walked into the aquarium's front entrance. It was completely empty and she turned to look at him, quirking a suspicious eyebrow. "Where is everyone?"

"It's just us. Technically, they closed a little over an hour ago," Damon coolly mentioned, but the fact that his eyes were firmly planted on the concrete floor beneath him gave away just how nervous he really was.

Elena's eyes widened. "You rented out an aquarium for me?"

"I didn't want to have to share you tonight," he admitted as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

She had to look away from him to hide the blush that crept up onto her cheeks. By no means was Damon back into her good graces completely, but she could really see that he was trying and she was allowing him the opportunity to do so. She thought it best still to calm the butterflies that were fluttering around in her stomach, to keep a bit of a protective wall around her heart this time, to make sure that she didn't allow him to exploit her vulnerabilities again.

"Can we see the sharks first?" she asked him excitedly, trying to change the subject and lighten the mood.

He held a hand out and gestured down the long hallway in front of them. "Lead the way, Miss Gilbert."

Elena's heels clacked against the floor beneath her as she hurried down the hallway, Damon trailing behind her. She came to the tank of sharks and pressed a hand against the cool glass in front of her as she watched them swim around in the clear water.

"Aren't they beautiful?" she asked him, her eyes transfixed on one as it swam past her.

"They're deadly. Sharks attack people all the time in the wild," Damon pointed out from behind her.

"They're predators. Of course they attack when you come into their home," she responded. "The ocean is their home. We're just visitors and sometimes we overstay our welcome."

He took a step closer to her, so close that she could feel the heat radiating off of him. She willed the goosebumps on the back of her neck to stand down, but she wasn't entirely successful at it.

"What's your fascination with sharks?" Damon whispered over her shoulder.

"I hope to be a shark someday," she answered, her mood shifting to something more serious.

"Yeah," Damon chuckled. "You're going to have to explain that one a little more."

"Before I met Kai, I was a shark. I wasn't scared of anything. I'm scared of everything now. I don't want to be scared anymore. I want to be a shark again. I want to be myself again." Elena let her hand drop from the glass in front of her, but she kept her eyes transfixed on the tank in front of her. "I keep replaying things over and over again in my head. Why didn't I stick up for myself more? Why did I just let things happen to me? Life doesn't just happen to sharks. They're in charge. They run things. They're a force to be reckoned with."

"You want to be feared?" Damon asked her, placing a hand around her shoulders.

"I want to be respected."

"I respect you," he said. He made to pull her closer, but Elena pulled herself out of his arms and walked away from the tank and further down the hallway to look at something else. She'd agreed to go on this date with him last night after he gave her this epic speech but now she was starting to wonder if maybe it had been too soon. Maybe she'd been basking in the haze of having him here when she said yes. Maybe she was still in shock that he admitted he loved her. He might love her, but she didn't feel that he respected her and hearing him say that he did triggered the anger she still had buried for him.

"Hey! Did I say something wrong?" Damon called after her.

Elena turned around, her finger pointed at him to scold him. "You don't respect me. Don't say that you respect me. You knew how I felt about you. You had to have known and yet you pushed me away. Hell, you fucking fled the country instead of sticking around to talk about it. You don't do that to someone you respect."

"I panicked, Elena. When you told me how you felt, it became all too real. It made it harder to hide how I felt for you from myself. I'm sorry, okay?" Damon took a step towards her, but Elena took a step back to maintain the distance.

She shook her head. "I told you I didn't want an apology."

"Well I want to give you one anyways. I'm doing it for me." He tried to take a step towards her again, this time slowly and cautiously. She didn't back away this time. "I'm sorry that I was an idiot. I knew how you felt about me because I felt the same. I still do. I was terrified to face that, but I'm facing it now. I'll fight for you if I have to." He took another slow step to her and she remained still. "I'm sorry that I was a dick to you after we slept together. I knew then that you were something special. I wasn't pretending with you the night we met. It was real. What we had was real. What we did was real." He moved even closer. "And I am so sorry that I watched you go through hell and didn't stop it. I should have done something about Kai. I should have done more for you instead of wasting my time trying to keep a safe distance."

As Damon took the final step closest to her, Elena felt tears well up in her eyes. "Okay, maybe I needed the apology after all," she tenderly spoke, nodding her head as he enveloped her into his arms.

"Well that's good because I rehearsed it about a hundred times on the plan ride over here," he breathed out as he rested his chin on top of her head. "I have another surprise for you."

Elena pulled back and swiped at her eyes with her hands. "Renting out an aquarium wasn't enough?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving actually," she answered.

He took her hand and led her into a part of the aquarium that she didn't go to last time, stopping along the way to check out the sting rays and penguins. The room they entered was usually roped off, but it was open for them this time. When they stepped into the large dimly lit room, the walls were lined with fish tanks and a small table sat in the middle. Elena's hands flew to her mouth in surprise. This was better than any fancy restaurant he could have taken her to.

Damon smirked at her as he pulled out her chair for her to have a seat. Soon, someone came over and poured them each a glass of wine. They brought out salads first, then their entrees. Elena tried to keep the conversation on neutral topics, things that wouldn't cause either of them to be upset. She'd already had one freak out during this date. She didn't need another.

"It would be ironic if we were eating fish right now," she smiled at him, taking a bite of her chicken marsala.

He chuckled at her comment. "I thought about lobster, but I didn't know how you'd feel about it."

"I'm usually pro lobster, but considering we're one with the ocean right now.." her voice trailed off as she gestured to the fish surrounding them.

They fell into a comfortable silence, each of them enjoying their meal for a little while until Elena couldn't take the small talk and silence anymore.

"You know that you're the reason I'm here, right?" she asked him as she looked up from her plate.

"Don't remind me," he groaned. "I know that I made you leave New York City."

Elena laughed lightly and shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant. I'm here because you believed in me. You told Professor Saltzman that you believed in me and I needed that vote of confidence."

"He told you I said something to him?" Damon said as he pushed his food around in front of him. "I should kill him. I told him that in confidence."

"You don't want people to know you're a nice person, do you?"

"I don't want those kind of expectations on me," he admitted. "When people have expectations, they set themselves up for disappointment."

Elena didn't respond. She didn't want to lie to him. The truth was that he had disappointed her the night of the charity gala and she didn't want to continue to berate him for something he already apologized for. Instead, she took the last bites of her food and tried to think of something to say. She and Damon hardly ever had awkward silences like this, but she found herself tiptoeing and dancing around their conversations tonight.

"What's for dessert?" she asked excitedly as the server cleared their dinner plates.

"Strawberries dipped in chocolate fondue," he answered matter-of-factly.

"I'm obsessed with strawberries!"

"I know."

She took the first bite and immediately remembered why her strawberry obsession had started. Was there anything more sweet and succulent than a fresh strawberry?

"You're doing that thing that," Damon pointed out, clenching his hands on the edge of the table.

"What thing?" she asked, taking a sip of wine.

"Where you moan and I have to pretend like I don't want to hear you do it again while I'm on top of you."

Elena swallowed hard, her eyes widening at his bold words. "I'll try to contain myself if you do."

"No promises," he smirked.

As they finished off the last of the wine and dessert, Elena leaned back into her chair and took in their surroundings. "This room was closed last time I was here."

"I think they usually just use it for renting out," he replied to her, sipping from his wine glass.

"It's really breathtaking. This has been a really awesome date, Damon."

"Whoa, whoa," Damon put his hands up in front of him. "Pump the brakes. Why are you acting like the night is over?"

"Well isn't it?" she asked him. "I mean, it's late and you're probably still adjusting to the time difference."

Damon finished the last bit of his wine and placed his glass on the table in front of him. "I thought you might like to dance with me?" He stood and extended his hand to her.

"But there isn't any music," Elena commented, not taking his hand just yet.

Damon nodded his head to the left where a man with a guitar was standing in the corner waiting on her to stand up.

"Has he been there the whole time?" Elena whispered, feeling embarrassed that she hadn't noticed if he had been.

Damon rolled his eyes at her hesitance. "He just got here. Now will you stop being ever so curious and stubborn? Dance with me, Elena Gilbert."

She slipped her hand into his and allowed him to pull her from her chair. He led her a couple steps away from the table and placed his other hand on the small of her back, pulling her close to him. As the slow acoustic sounds emitted from the guitarist, he began to sway with her.

Elena closed her eyes and took the opportunity to melt into him. It had been since she'd been held like this. It had been even longer since anyone had treated her like this. Damon brought her in closer to him and she rested her cheek against his chest, allowing her to hear the slow and steady beat of his heart mixed with the chords of the guitar. He wasn't making it easy for her to keep her walls up right now.

"Elena?" his raspy voice caught her attention.

"Hm?" She opened her eyes and gazed up at him.

He didn't respond at first and instead moved in to kiss her gently. Elena moaned against his lips before he pulled away.

"Sorry about the moan," she blushed.

Damon gulped, seemingly trying to restrain himself from pushing things further. "It's okay. I can take you home whenever you're ready."

"Can we actually dance a little more first?" Elena asked.

He nodded his head as she pressed herself against his chest again and they stood there swaying to the music for quite some time.

* * *

Shoving her keys into the doorknob, Elena pushed it open and stood in the doorway of her apartment for a minute. She was pondering whether she wanted to invite Damon inside or not. She didn't want the night to end but she didn't want too much too soon either so the two of them kind of awkwardly stood there for an indeterminate amount of time, Elena with her hand on the doorknob of her half open apartment door and Damon standing next to her. Neither was sure what to do or say. Finally, he moved closer and made to kiss her goodnight, but she stopped him with a hand to his chest.

"Do you want to come in for a little bit?" she bravely asked.

He smiled, clearly happy that she had asked. "I'd love to actually."

She pushed the door to her apartment open and they entered inside, discarding their shoes at her doorway.

"I have more awfully cheap wine," Elena offered to him as he made himself comfortable on her couch.

"Red or white?" Damon asked her.

Elena arched an eyebrow, laughing a little at him. "When it costs 5 pounds for a bottle, does it really matter?"

"Count me in for a glass of your finest discount alcoholic grape juice," he responded.

With a nod, she walked the short distance to the kitchen to retrieve some for them. Once she was out of his earshot and vision, she placed a soothing hand on her chest and took a deep breath. She was in her apartment, alone, with the man she'd tried so hard but failed so miserably at not loving. The man who pieced her heart together and then broke it apart in equal measure. Now that he loved her back, she wasn't sure how to handle that.

And furthermore, where did Jesse fit into all of this? This was the first time he'd entered into her mind since she'd gotten off the phone with him earlier that morning. As promised, she called him and tried to offer some kind of half explanation to him about Damon. She obviously left out the uglier details about Kai. Their phone conversation ended with a resounding declaration from Jesse that he cared for her a lot and a half-hearted reassurance from Elena that she liked him as well. And she wasn't lying. She did like him. He was a really great guy, but she didn't love him. Maybe she could love him someday, but she definitely didn't right now and the confusion swirled around in her head as she picked up the full wine glasses and padded her way back into the living room.

"I'm not ready to just fall into a relationship with you," Elena blurted out rather pointedly as she handed Damon his glass.

He looked a little taken aback at first, but he composed himself before he responded. "I meant it when I said I'd fight for you. I don't really want to share you with fucking Jesse fucking Warren, but if those are your terms then I'll accept them. I'll take what I can get from you at this point, Elena."

"You would seriously be okay with me dating you and someone else at the same time?" she asked, surprise clear in her voice as she took a seat beside of him on the couch.

Damon calmly took a sip from his wine glass. "Is it preferable? Absolutely not. The thing is, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm kind of groveling here. I'm at your mercy."

And that is when she had to call bullshit on him because Damon Salvatore never left himself at anyone's mercy. Ever. She'd known him long enough to know that he would never allow himself to be so exposed. So she scoffed into her wine glass. Loudly.

"You don't believe me?" he asked.

"Honestly, not at all. You heard yourself earlier tonight. You rented out an entire building because you didn't want to share me," Elena pointed out.

"That was because tonight was all about us," Damon countered. "I don't expect to hog you for the rest of your time in London and I don't expect you to just fall into my arms like some damsel. You're not a damsel. You're Elena. I have to earn you."

"So to be clear, you want to date me but you're okay if I don't only want to date you?" she said skeptically.

Damon paused before he answered her and she was thankful for it because she felt like he was really letting the thought of her with someone else sink in. Begrudgingly, he nodded his head.

"And so if I want to go out to dinner with Jesse tomorrow night?" she tested him, still unsure that he could handle this. Especially given his jealous reaction when he saw Jesse at her apartment yesterday.

His jaw tensed at the mention of the specifics. "Then I would just ask that you don't tell me about it," he bit out. "This won't work if I have to think about someone else touching you how I want to touch you. Especially fucking Jesse fucking Warren."

The answer seemed to satisfy her so she took another drink from her glass and changed the conversation to a subject she'd danced around with him for such a long time. "And how do you want to touch me?"

Damon set his wine glass down, the liquid in it being most untouched. He reached towards her and lightly trailed his fingertips from her neck across her collarbones and then down between her breasts. "A lot like that," he replied to her, stopping his fingers and pulling away.

She thought back to the first time and really only time that he'd touched her like this, months ago. She was a bundle of nerves, so terrified of looking like a fool in front of him, so scared that she'd prove to be unimpressive. He'd reassured her the entire time, taking extra care to make sure she enjoyed it as much as he did.

At the time, she hadn't allowed herself to think of it as anything more than a one-time thing, but now that there was this talk of having more, it brought on a whole new level of nerves for her. She had something to lose this time. This wasn't her throwing caution to the wind. Instead, she had to exercise the most amount of caution that she possibly could.

Clearing her throat and trying to get her head back onto the ground, Elena looked down at her lap in hesitation.

"Are you going to tell me that you aren't very good at this again?" he asked her, chuckling a little.

She nodded her head, because those were exactly the words that were about to come out of her mouth. She'd changed a lot since the last time they'd done anything like this, but that stinging insecurity still remained. The head on collision with Jesse damn near solidified the fact that she was graceless when it came to sex. Not to mention the fact that Kai made sure to remind her of it every single time they'd been intimate for the past two years.

"Well how about this? You're in control here. You stop whenever you feel like it," Damon suggested as he lifted his hand to cup her cheek.

She leaned into his palm and nodded her head. Sex was the only thing she'd ever really been shy about and her experiences aside from Damon hadn't really helped that fact. She appreciated that he was patient with her when it came to this kind of thing as he pressed his lips to hers gently. This was the easy part. Kissing was something she felt comfortable with. She had no qualms with kissing, especially kissing Damon.

She allowed him to bring his hands down and rest them on her ribs. As Elena deepened the kiss and pushed her tongue between his lips, his grip tightened around her. She wanted to climb onto his lap, to really feel him between her legs and so she did. She broke away from his lips long enough to maneuver herself onto his lap, effectively straddling him.

He wrapped his arms around her and she relished in the feeling of his palms pressing into her back. He wanted her even closer so she took it as a cue to grind her hips onto his very obvious erection. Her dress had bunched up around her waist a little and she could very distinctly feel him through his dark jeans and her thin black cotton underwear.

Then she froze because she wasn't really sure what she was supposed to do next and although she wasn't a virgin, she wasn't exactly a seductress either. She'd always been more than happy to go with the flow when it came to this sort of thing, but Damon was letting her call the shots here and she was kind of clueless on how to go about it.

"Are you okay?" he asked as she quietly pulled away.

"I don't know what to do now," she quietly admitted.

She watched as his hands trailed up to her cheeks before he brought her in for another deep kiss that left her breathless. "You're doing a damn good job so far," he remarked and he lifted his hips to press himself into her for proof.

Elena pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. "Can I touch you?"

"I would love that," he said, smirking at her. The smirk actually wasn't filled with his usual smugness, but instead reassurance.

She slid herself off of his lap and Damon helped her get his pants off as she kneeled before him. And up until then, she didn't understand how Caroline could have said she'd fallen in love with someone's penis but it was quite possibly love at first sight for Elena. She hadn't really gotten a good look at it during their drunken encounter before, but now Elena firmly decided that this was her second favorite physical attribute of Damon. The first being his eyes, of course.

She licked her lips eagerly and instinct took over as she stroked him in her hand. He let his head tilt back and she heard him groan so she figured she was doing a pretty okay job. Typically, Kai would just push and pull her head down there so she never really had to think about what she was meant to do. Feeling a little more adventurous, she leaned down and took him into her mouth and the immediate panting that sounded from him excited her.

Elena was soaking through her underwear and he had barely even touched her. She was so incredibly turned on by the thought that what she was doing to him made him feel so good. It was empowering as she watched him struggle to maintain his composure. She continued to bob her head up and down, licking and twirling her tongue, experimenting and listening for his reactions for a few more minutes until suddenly she heard him form semi-coherent words.

"Need to stop," he gritted. "I'm going to come."

But she didn't stop. She kept going because damn it, she wanted to see this through. She'd made him feel this way and she wanted him to come undone inside of her mouth. It was a pride thing at this point and Elena momentarily wondered at what point in the past ten minutes she had gone from shy girl to sex goddess. Then she realized it was him. He made her feel like she could do anything she wanted because honestly, she could and the only thing stopping her was herself. So she took great satisfaction in that realization as he came into her mouth and she swallowed it conceitedly.

"That was," he said in between deep breathes. He didn't finish his sentence as she stood to her feet and swiped at her mouth with the back of her hand.

Damon extended his hand to reach for her. "Please, dear God, let me return the fucking favor," he pleaded to her.

Oddly, Elena found that she didn't need him to do that because what he'd just unknowingly given her was so much more so she shook her head and smiled at him. Snatching his mostly full wine glass off of the coffee table, she chugged it triumphantly. She felt totally in charge right now and she was living off the high of it.

"You're seriously not going to let me make you come?" Damon asked her as he stood up and pulled his jeans back on, securing his belt.

"No, but I will let you stay with me," she answered him. "Providing you don't sleep in your uncomfortable jeans like last time."

"I can't make you come and I had to sleep half naked next to you?" he whined.

"You're at my mercy, remember?" she reminded him, a sassy tone in her voice.

His shook his head and laughed. "That has never been more apparent."

And so Elena scampered off to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get herself ready for bed and when she walked into her bedroom, Damon was already under the covers in only his boxers. She let her eyes linger on his bare chest for a couple seconds and she actually kind of regretted turning down his earlier offer, but then she remembered the playful suffering she was about to put him through. She could keep him wanting for as long as she wished. She had that kind of power.

She kept a six inch barrier between them as she slid under the covers next to him, but she allowed him to reach out and take her hand. They laid there in silence like that for a few minutes.

"You're different," she remarked.

"I had a lot of time to think in Vancouver. And also a lot of time to drink," he answered back.

She chuckled. "I'm sure your liver is relieved that you're back."

"Stefan came up there for a couple of days," Damon mentioned nonchalantly.

"I'm sorry, repeat that?" Elena said because she was sure she had to have heard that wrong.

"I invited him up there when I was feeling particularly nasty about myself. I thought maybe punching him in the face might help me out. After I landed a punch to his nose, I actually didn't feel much better so he stayed and we drank a lot of bourbon and chopped some wood and did brotherly bonding shit and I think I forgave him somewhere along the way."

Elena sighed. "Forgiveness is a funny feeling, isn't it?" She knew because she'd chosen to forgive Kai as she sat on the other side of her front door months ago listening to the damaged person on the other side plead with her. She had forgiven him rather easily, but it was the forgetting part that she still struggled with. The emotional scars she suffered still ran deeply through her.

"It really is." Damon paused. "I can forgive him for what he did, but I don't know that I'll ever be going over there for dinner with the two of them. You know?"

"Forgive, but not forget." Elena nodded her head at the notion that she knew all too well.

"Exactly. I do want you to meet him though. I mean, eventually. When things with us get serious and you stop dating fucking Jesse fucking Warren."

"You're so sure that will happen?" she asked him, smiling through the darkness even though he couldn't see her.

"I'd bet my life on it," he responded, full of confidence.

Suddenly, she felt his arm snake around her waist to bring her closer to him and she allowed it because of the way his touch made her heart swell. They both laid on their sides as he pressed his chest into her back and she relaxed completely as he held her tightly.

She felt herself drifting off to sleep so she wished him goodnight while she still had the chance.

"I love you little shark," he whispered in her ear before she fell asleep.

* * *

 **A/N: Can I tell you guys something? I hate writing blowies because I feel like they always come out as super awkward, but like…. the super feminist realization that Elena has mid-BJ here made me so happy! And I feel like that flips the tables on the whole thing entirely.**

 **And we still have so much story left to tell! So until next time, leave some love. :)**


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hi again! I'm really trying to get back to more regular updating, but it will probably not be daily as before. *Insert gif of an person making a super sad face here.* It will be as frequent as I can make it.**

 **I'm so happy that people are still discovering this story. I get notifications daily that so and so has faved or followed and it warms my heart! Then there are my readers who have been with me since Ch 1 (heck some of you have been here since TPL), and I love love love hearing from you guys! I'm a glutton for praise or criticism. What can I say?**

 **And now for the next chapter!**

* * *

 **He kissed me in a way that I wanna be kissed forever more**

Her feet were soaked. Her shirt was pretty much transparent at this point. Water droplets fell of the ends of her hair as she slopped her way into the elevator of her apartment building. Damn the London weather. It was warm and sunny when she departed for her internship that earlier morning in a pencil skirt, wedges, and a white blouse. There wasn't a sign of rain in the sky, no chance of showers mentioned on the weather forecast and then suddenly a torrential downpour happened as she sprinted from the tube station to her apartment building at the end of her day.

Elena punched the button on the elevator with a huff then chanced a look down at her outfit when the doors shut. Pink bras and white shirts were a terrible combination when you threw rain in the mix. Her mother was probably rolling over in her grave at the sight of it. But she was in a hurry this morning. And it wasn't supposed to rain today.

When she heard the ding that indicated she was on her floor, she looked up and stepped off of the elevator. She was in the midst of fishing her keys out of her purse and walking towards her door when she heard someone clear their throat in front of her. Not seconds after, she collided with a solid chest.

"I thought I'd surprise you with a little Wednesday night dinner," Jesse smiled half-heartedly as he held up a bag from the kebab place they'd tried a few days ago.

Elena smiled back at him. "Believe it or not, this is not the first surprise of my day." She gestured at her drenched state.

He laughed and took a glance at her body. She watched as Jesse's eyes lingered on her chest for a little too long to be considered innocent and she found herself blushing, feeling bashful that he was thinking of her in that way.

"Well let's get inside so I can put some dry clothes on," Elena said, jingling her keys in her hand for emphasis and effectively breaking his stare.

Jesse shook his head quickly, trying to snap himself out of whatever trance she'd inadvertently caused and followed her inside. Elena hung her bag on a hook by the door as he took quick strides to her couch before plopping down to make himself at home. He'd been here enough times over the last month or so that it wasn't really all that strange for him to be so comfortable.

She peeled the wet blouse off of her skin and changed into dry sweatpants and a tshirt. It was actually one of the tshirts Damon let her borrow many months ago. She'd packed it away in the bottom of her suitcase, lying to herself and saying that it was because of how soft the fabric was. In all actuality, she had wanted a piece of Damon with her in London. It didn't matter that she was still incredibly pissed at him at the time. She wanted a little bit of him with her. And there it sat in her suitcase, shoved underneath her bed and mostly forgotten as she explored the bustling city around her until he showed up last weekend. Now, it seemed silly to wear anything else at night.

"Have you called home recently?" Elena called to Jesse through the closed bedroom door.

"I did. The farm is still, well a farm. Not much going on in rural Iowa these days." He watched her walk out of the bedroom and sit down on the couch next to him. "How about you?"

"Caroline makes me check in every two days," Elena responded, laughing. "If I didn't, she would probably hop a plane and bang on my apartment door." She rubbed her hands together greedily and eyed the bag on the coffee table in front of them. "Kebab time?"

"It is absolutely kebab time," Jesse confirmed as he emptied the contents of the take out bag.

Elena stuffed the skewer into her mouth, not even caring that she probably looked incredibly gross and unattractive as she did it. She had worked through lunch that day and she was starving.

"What did that kebab ever do to you? Why are you so angry at it?" Jesse said through his laughter as he gingerly picked a piece of chicken off of his own skewer with a fork.

With her mouth stuffed full, all she could do was smile with appreciation for the meal. It was the type of response that said all it needed to say so they ate in a comfortable silence for a bit, eventually turning on Netflix so they could rewatch season five of Parks and Recreation. It had become the show they put on in the background most nights that they spent at her apartment.

With her stomach full and her hair finally drying from the thunderstorm earlier, Elena sat back on the couch and tucked her legs underneath herself as Jesse leaned over the coffee table and finished up his food. She let out a hearty laugh at something Ron Swanson said to Leslie and shortly after felt Jesse watching her.

"Stop being creepy!" she yelled at him as she playfully picked up a throw pillow and chucked it in his direction. "You're staring at me again!"

"Can you blame me?" he asked, laughing and dodging the pillow that was flying at him.

They resumed watching TV for a bit, Jesse slowly inching his hand closer to Elena's until they were just barely touching. Elena allowed him to do so, slowly sliding her hand into his grip.

"Would it be too presumptuous of me to ask to cuddle?" he asked her.

Elena pondered it for a moment. This was the first time Jesse had really tried to initiate anything like this since Damon had shown up on her doorstep. Since her date with Damon on Saturday, they'd been constantly texting each other. The texts weren't always of a PG-13 nature either. Some of the things they'd said to each other were certainly not for children's eyes.

She'd allowed him to come over last night and they'd stayed up talking far too late. He'd been the reason she was running late for work earlier that day, holding onto her tightly in the warm comfort of her bed. And yet, she couldn't just surrender her heart to him without at least trying to see where things with Jesse could go.

She and Jesse made a lot of sense together. He treated her well, in a way that was simple and uncomplicated and completely absent of any kind of commitment issues. They were in the same place in their lives, both on the cusp of their senior year of college. He was intelligent when it came to finance, not to the extent of Damon but he had time to get there still. He seemed to come from a good family, albeit she wasn't sure she could ever really settle down in Iowa with him. Jesse was probably the type of guy she should end up with, but she didn't feel like she could give her heart to him right now either.

She needed time. She needed to know more before she could decide and she knew that stringing the both of them along was probably going to end in heartbreak for at least one of them, but she was choosing to be selfish for the first time in a very long time and it didn't feel entirely horrible.

So with a nod, she lifted Jesse's arm and settled in underneath it as they continued their Netflix marathon that evening. He tightened his arms around her and she let herself relax into him. She was so comfortable after the long day she'd had that she didn't even notice that she was falling asleep with her head resting on his chest.

An indeterminate amount of time later, she awoke to the sound of her cell phone ringing from her purse. As she cracked open her eyes to let in the light of the TV in front of them, she noticed that Jesse had fallen asleep too. Ever so carefully, she removed his arms from around her waist and padded quietly over to her bag to grab her phone. It had stopped ringing by the time she located it, but she was grateful for whoever called because she'd definitely would have forgotten to set her alarms for the morning if they hadn't.

Elena took a look at who the missed call was from. Damon. Of course. Because she would normally call him before she went to bed and it was nearing ten at night already. She started to type out a quick text to let him know she was okay, but she was interrupted.

"Hey," Jesse's voice rasped from behind her with a pouty undertone. "You left me."

"Sorry," she apologized to Jesse, shoving her phone into the pocket of her sweatpants and making her way back to the couch. "I had to set my alarms for tomorrow."

"Is it that late?" Jesse asked, seemingly surprised that he'd been sleeping that long himself.

Elena nodded at him. Something clicked for her in that moment as she looked at Jesse, sleep still present in his eyes and voice. She actually wanted him to kiss her again. Ever since she explained the Damon situation to him, Jesse hadn't really made any moves on her and she was kind of fine with that. But now, she wanted him to kiss her.

If she was being honest, part of that motivation was experimental. Damon had been all too willing to help Elena rediscover her inner sex goddess and certainly their texts had been a strong indication that it was working, but she wondered if she could have that kind of electricity with Jesse too.

As if he could have known what she was thinking, Jesse's eyes darted to her lips and he slowly leaned towards her. Elena let her eyes flutter closed and she waited with baited breath for the kiss.

It never came. Instead, a startled Jesse jumped up from the couch at the sound of knocking on Elena's front door.

"Were you expecting someone?" Jesse asked her, but she knew he was really asking if she was expecting Damon.

She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. It had to be Damon. "Not so much expecting. Hang on. I'll be right back."

She stood from the couch and rushed over to the door, unlocking it and opening it a fraction of the way. She didn't want Damon to see Jesse inside. It was one thing for him to say he was okay with all of this, but it was another for him to see it.

"Thank fucking God," Damon breathed out a sigh once she poked her head out the crack in the door. "I was so worried."

Elena could see his shoulders visibly relax in his suit jacket at the sight of her. He ran his hand over his face in relief and she immediately felt a tinge of guilt for making him so concerned.

"I'm home and I'm okay," she answered him. "I'm so sorry that I forgot to text you. I got caught up in the rain on the way home and I got sidetracked and then I fell asleep on the couch." She deliberately left Jesse out of her explanation in an effort to spare Damon's feelings.

"It's okay," Damon responded, none of his usual hubris present in his tone. "You don't have to report to me or anything. It's just that one minute you're texting me on the tube on the way home and then nothing. I tried not to blow up your phone, but you've still got a crazy ex on the loose. I just needed to see you were okay."

Elena was praying Jesse didn't hear that last part. Kai wasn't something she'd brought up with him, for good reason. She didn't need to get into all of that with him, at least not unless things became serious.

Damon made to step closer to the door, probably thinking that he could come inside for a little while. After all, he'd just been there last night. Elena instinctively drew the crack a little more closed in response.

"Now that I'm here, can I come in?" he asked her, confusion on his face at her odd reaction.

"I'm actually about to go to sleep," Elena told him. It wasn't a lie. She was awfully tired and once she sent Jesse on his way home, she had every intention of crawling into bed for the night. "I'll text you in the morning?"

"I promise not to keep you up babbling on about my brother again." Damon smirked at her and his charming gesture sent quivers from her chest to between her legs.

She smiled at him. "I liked hearing about Stefan."

"I can tell you more, if you'd like. I'm full of embarrassing childhood stories," he persuaded, chuckling lightly.

"Hang on," she said to him. She shut her door and leaned against the back of it, looking regretfully at Jesse.

"That was him?" Jesse asked her, clear frustration in his voice.

Elena nodded.

"Is he gone?"

She shook her head no.

Jesse let out a deep breath. "Why do I feel like we're sneaking around behind your boyfriend's back or something?"

It was an impossible situation. Outside of her door stood a man who said he loved her, but who she couldn't trust to not break her heart. Standing in front of her was a man who wouldn't break her heart, but who she wasn't yet sure if she could love.

"Damon's," Elena paused "intense. He knows we're seeing each other. I just don't like to flaunt it in front of him."

"What about flaunting that you're seeing him in front of me?" Jesse asked her and it was honestly the first time Elena had thought about how unfair she must have been acting. "You don't think that hurts?"

She didn't really respond, instead sliding to the side of the doorway and pulling the front door open by the handle. As the door swung open, Jesse and Damon each had full views of the other. Elena watched as Damon took a couple steps inside of her apartment from the hallway and she quietly closed the door behind him.

Damon's jaw visibly clenched as he stared Jesse down in Elena's living room, but Jesse was sure to maintain as commanding of a posture as possible.

"Fucking Jesse fucking Warren," Damon muttered not so softly under his breath, gaze transfixed on the guy in front of him.

"Hey Damon. Elena didn't mention you were coming by," Jesse responded in a jovial tone, but it was laced with a tinge of spite.

Jesse had never shown this kind of backbone before, always playing out as more of a shy and unsecure guy. It was completely unforeseen, but actually kind of attractive.

"She wasn't expecting me," Damon gritted out in response, shooting a glance at Elena. "Really?" he mouthed in her direction, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Do you always show up places unexpected?" Jesse asked him, clearly trying to egg him on.

And it worked. Damon's eyes snapped back to Jesse. "Do you always date girls who are clearly in love with someone else?"

This was an inevitable confrontation and she'd been putting it off for a few days already. If they were both going to be okay with dating her, she couldn't just hide Jesse away every time Damon called or came by. But Jesse wasn't helping his case by pushing Damon's buttons and she'd only seen Damon look at one other person the way he was looking at Jesse, that person being Kai. She had to intervene before any blows were thrown.

So she did her best, over exaggerated, hyper dramatic fake yawn and stretched her arms over her head for extra emphasis. "I'm exhausted," she remarked. "And I think it's time I get some sleep. Alone." She made sure to stress that last word so they'd both know that neither of them would be staying the night with her.

Damon and Jesse both continued to stare at each other, neither one wanting to be the first one out the door to give the other a chance at any length of time alone with her.

"Well go ahead and take them out so we can measure," Elena said, crossing her arms over her chest. She was feeling particularly sassy all of a sudden and hopefully she'd be able to ease a little of the tension in the air. It was enough right now that she thought she might suffocate.

"What?" Jesse asked her, confused.

Damon let out an exasperated laugh. "She's talking about our dicks, dumbass. She's telling us that we're being possessive assholes."

"I was going to say misogynistic cavemen, but possessive assholes works too." Elena laughed as well and it was clear that Jesse didn't get the humor behind her crass joke.

He was immediately apologetic towards her, putting his hands up in front of him defensively. "Elena, that was not my intention at all. I'm so sorry."

Rather than embarrass Jesse by telling him that the joke went over his head, she kindly tried to soothe him. "It's okay. Don't worry about it." She walked towards him and moved to kiss him goodbye on the cheek, but he turned at the last minute and pressed his lips to hers.

The stolen kiss was obviously unexpected, but the feeling was pleasant and not at all uncomfortable. In fact, it was a good kiss. It lacked the fire she'd come to expect whenever she kissed Damon, but she chalked that up to the fact that Damon was probably gawking at them right about now. That didn't exactly set the mood.

"I can take a joke," he reassured her by whispering into her ear before pulling away. She could hear the slight grin in his voice.

"Go home, caveman," she whispered back as she backed away from him.

Seemingly satisfied that he'd stolen the kiss Damon had interrupted earlier, he coolly breezed past Damon and out the front door without another word. Damon furiously stared him down the entire time.

As soon as the door clicked closed, Damon's feet moved quickly and directly in Elena's direction. He didn't speak as he cupped her face in his hands and tilted her chin upwards. He harshly pressed his lips to hers and her entire body tingled in the kind of way that only he'd been able to make her feel. She opened her mouth a little and his tongue immediately swept itself inside, dancing with her own. She let her hands wrap around his neck to pull him closer and any thought of Jesse or the kiss they'd shared just minutes earlier had disappeared. Any thought of anything other than the way Damon was making her feel in that moment had gone out the window. Just as she was about to pull away and drag him into her bedroom, Damon released her and took a step back.

"Stupid kid," Damon muttered. "That's how you deserve to be kissed."

Before Elena could snap herself out of the spell Damon had put her under, open her eyes, and respond, Damon was out the door with a soft click behind him and Elena was left alone in her apartment, panting. She brought her fingertips to her lips, which were still tingling, and smiled.

* * *

 **A/N: I feel like after this chapter, Jesse is one of those love to hate characters.**

 **Also, I don't know about you guys, but I swoon every time I write jealous Damon so his kiss at the end had me in a puddle.**

 **Lastly, if you think this chapter slants towards Jesse winning Elena over, I urge you to stay tuned because this is a DE story at heart and my favorite blue eyed fella is going to get his girl in the end. Because duh, who deserves my feisty and smart Elena Gilbert more than my worldly and sexy Damon Salvatore?**


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: This chapter is kind of…heavy, but heavy in a good way. If that makes any sense at all?**

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 **This moment has caused a reaction resulting in our reattachment**

Elena paced around her living room, balancing her phone between her shoulder and ear. She was folding laundry and trying to distract herself from the awful phone conversation she'd be subjected to. It had been a whirlwind of a Friday in which she was pulled into meetings all day at her internship. On the way home, missed her connection on the tube. Twice. And now she'd gotten a phone call from the person she least expected to hear from anymore. Kai.

She hadn't heard anything from in months and for that she was kind of grateful. Life after Kai had brought its own set of predicaments and issues. Now she was forced to add this on top of everything and when she'd absentmindedly answered the phone without looking at the screen, the sound of his voice sent uneasy tremors through her chest. It was the voice that still crept inside of her head occasionally, confirming her deepest insecurities, try as she might to beat it back down. Where once she'd associated his voice with love, now there was only pain.

It hadn't been a particularly angry or traumatizing phone conversation. Kai insisted he was just calling to see how she was doing and since he was none the wiser that she was currently in London, Elena provided him with polite but vague answers to his prodding questions.

"I just, uh, I just guess I wanted to see how you were doing. Are you home for the summer?" Kai stuttered from the other end of the line.

"Not exactly. I'm out of town this summer for an internship," she responded, folding one of her skirts neatly.

It wasn't that Kai's voice brought her to tears, it was just that it physically pained her to hear it because it reminded her of the worst version of herself. It was the version that she'd so desperately fled from. She was finally almost a shark again and Kai reminded her that she once allowed herself to be a minnow. She didn't want to be that girl again.

"Well, that's good. I'm sure you're kicking ass at it," Kai reassured her.

And he was right. She was. "I am," she affirmed.

"I'm seeing a shrink now," he shifted the subject onto himself, as he so often did. "I think it's really helping."

"That's great. I hope you get the help that you were needing," she curtly responded, placing the full laundry basket on her hip and carrying it into her bedroom. "I really wanted our breakup to push you to work on yourself."

"Well maybe if things keep going well, there's a chance we could get back together. You know?" Kai optimistically said.

"Malakai," Elena stopped him right there. She'd known Kai long enough to see where this seemingly innocent conversation was going and she needed to stop it in its tracks before it entered wounding territory.

"You're the love of my life," he beseeched, trying to sway her. It was the trump card that he used to pull when he really wanted to manipulate her.

That may worked on the minnow, but the shark didn't have any use for his implorations. She remained strong. "Kai, it's not going to work between us. I don't love you anymore."

As if the blatant denial triggered something inside of him, the old Kai that she'd come to know so well emerged through the receiver. Expletives, name-calling, and all. Therapy may have been helping him, but he still had a long way to go before he could ever really understand the weight of the damage he'd done to her. So Elena tuned his voice out, preparing to just hang up the phone once she sent the laundry basket onto her bed and had her hands free.

This was Kai though and things were never going to be that easy on her where he was concerned. Before she had a chance to remove the phone from her ear, he articulated a string of words that still held incredible power over her. And she heard them loud and clear.

"Whatever, Elena. Like I'd want to be with someone as fucked up as you anyway. You're so damaged that your parents drove themselves off a bridge to get away from you."

She threw her phone against the wall of her bedroom and it fell onto the carpet below. It was the most abrupt way she'd ever ended a phone call and as she felt the familiar tears well up in her eyes, she angrily glanced at the phone on the floor. The screen was cracked and she'd rendered the phone utterly useless.

What Kai said was simply not true and to some extent, Elena knew it wasn't true. What happened to her parents was a freak accident, the combination of an icy bridge and bad timing. They may have been coming to pick her up from the bonfire, but that didn't make it her fault. She couldn't blame herself, lest the guilt eat her alive from the inside. A million and one psychiatrists told her so.

Even still knowing all of that, Kai's words permeated their way into the dark recesses of her mind. They planted themselves onto the small part of her brain that still carried the weight of the death of her parents around with her everywhere she went. They intertwined with the fragments of her that thought she'd never be good enough for anyone else to love. It all amplified and as she stood there in her bedroom alone, she couldn't discern between what she knew to be fact and what her brain was telling her to be true. But more than anything, she was livid that she'd let Kai do this to her from across the Atlantic Ocean. She balled her hands up into fists at her sides and let the angry tears spill from her eyes.

Sharks didn't waver like this. Whatever she was, it wasn't a shark.

Once she resigned herself to that fact, she took a deep breath and proceeded to occupy her mind with the menial laundry task before her. It was a welcomed distraction from the war raging inside of her brain. After she'd finished, Elena welcomed the knock on her door, knowing that Jesse was supposed to be coming by with take-out as had become their routine every couple of nights. She ripped open her apartment door and buried her head against his chest.

But she didn't feel any better. And it didn't feel right. She stood there in her doorway and squeezed him tight, hoping that his embrace would bring her some sense of comfort and safety as he perplexedly hugged her back. It didn't and she absolutely knew in her heart that it wouldn't.

As she pulled herself away from him and eyed the bag of food in one of his hands, she knew that this was not what she needed right now. He couldn't give her what she required. This wasn't where she belonged.

"I'm sorry," she shook her head at him and what she was about to say to him was unkind, but it was probably the most honest moment they'd shared since they'd started seeing each other. "I can't keep doing this."

Jesse raised his eyebrows at her with a confused expression, which wasn't surprising given his very limited context of the situation. "Doing what?"

"Pretending I'm someone that I'm not," she quietly admitted.

"Elena, what are you talking about? Let's get inside and calm you down," he placated.

"I'm sorry, Jesse. I have to go. I'm sorry."

Elena rushed back inside of her apartment, quickly grabbing her purse and throwing on a pair of flip-flops that were strewn next to the doorway. She slammed the apartment door shut with a loud boom and brushed past Jesse's confounded form. He was still standing in the hallway, take-out bag in hand.

"Elena, where are you going?" he called after her as she practically sprinted towards the elevator at the end of the hallway.

She didn't answer him as the elevator doors opened and she stepped inside. She watched his shoulders slump in defeat as the doors closed and he finally realized what had just happened.

* * *

Elena rapped her knuckles on the door to Damon's hotel suite, her lip tugged uneasily between her teeth as she waited on him to come to the door. He answered with a startled but excited expression.

"Hey, beautiful. Did we have plans tonight? I must have gotten my days mixed up. I thought we were having dinner tomorrow," he mused, clearly wondering what she was doing there.

The smell of his aftershave wafted out into the hallway as she stood there staring at him, unable to put together any real words that would encompass the past hour of her day. All she could muster up in response was a slight shake of her head.

"Well, come in anyways." Damon reached for her, ushering inside of his extravagant suite. He'd made sure Elena knew where he was staying the day he got to London, but this was the first time she'd actually been there. It was far too big for one person and the opulence made her a little uncomfortable in comparison to her tiny East London apartment.

She let her eyes drift around at the décor before they landed onto Damon, who was watching her intently. He was fully dressed in her favorite grey suit, blue tie securely around his neck, and he had his shoes on. She had clearly caught him as he was about to head out the door.

"Something's wrong," he perceptively pointed out, closing the door and taking a couple of steps towards her.

"Did you have plans? I didn't mean to just show up and interrupt your evening," Elena said, taking her eyes off of him and redirecting them onto the marble flooring beneath her feet.

Damon shook his head softly, dismissing her diversion. He reached up to tuck a stray hair behind her ear and the minute his hand made contact with her skin, she felt a heat wash over her. It happened every time he touched her, but it was especially noticeable if it had been awhile since she'd felt it.

"What's wrong?" he asked her and she could tell that he was searching in her eyes for some kind of answer. "What happened?"

Elena shook her head, but she couldn't hold it in anymore as the tears came spilling out of her eyes. On instinct, Damon pulled her close to his chest and she buried her face into his crisp white dress shirt. Her eyeliner smeared onto the fabric, but he didn't seem to mind in the slightest as he swayed back and forth with her in his arms. He lifted one of his hands and smoothed it over her hair, which made her relax her tired shoulders into his embrace.

This was the safety and the comfort that she absolutely needed. He didn't even know what was wrong and yet he was already making her feel better. That's just who he was to her, a safe haven where she could be her nerdiest, feistiest, most true self. And in that moment, there wasn't a doubt in her mind. He wouldn't hurt her again. He loved her and she loved him and this is what it was like to finally be with someone who made you your best self.

"Sorry about your shirt," she mumbled against his chest as she sniffled and tried to calm her tears.

Damon glanced down at the stained material and shrugged distractedly. "They make others."

"Is it Yves Saint Laurent?" Elena smiled and teased him, remembering how he made that comment to her in the nightclub months ago.

"Who cares?" he dismissed as she pulled back from him slightly. "Are you okay?"

With a nod of her head, she looked up into his eyes. "It was Kai."

"Does he know where you are?" Damon frantically asked, going into an immediate protective mode. "You're safe here with me. I won't let him get anywhere near you."

He appeared to be going through a mental checklist as his eyes darted around the hotel suite. Elena placed a reassuring hand onto his chest to get his attention before he called a security team or something equally as overkill. He turned his attention back to her.

"It was just a phone call and I wouldn't have answered had I been paying attention, but then I thought that I could handle him. He's an ocean away. It's been months since we've spoken. I didn't think he'd have that kind of power over me anymore, Damon. I thought I was stronger," she distressingly admitted to him. "I guess I'm not that strong after all."

"You're very strong, Elena. You said you're in London because of me, but really it's because of you. You got yourself here. You already had all of the tools, all I did was believe that you could use them."

She nodded her head and wanted to end the conversation at that, planning to spare him the details of what exactly Kai had said that had her so upset. The death of her parents wasn't something she'd really discussed with Damon, other than a brief mention in passing once, and he never really pushed for more details than that.

Damon wasn't about to let her off that easily. "What did he say? Do you want to talk about it?"

Her first instinct was just to give him a curt no and then move on to other topics, but Damon had really made an honest effort to open up to her about Stefan and she really owed him the same courtesy. "It was about my parents."

"Come on. Let's sit," Damon tenderly suggested, leading her over to the plush gray couch in the living room of the suite.

The sound of his phone ringing cut through the silence almost immediately and he dug his phone out of his pocket. He pressed the ignore button and set it onto the coffee table face down in front of them, silently letting Elena know that she had his full attention.

"You were clearly on your way out. I don't want you to stand up whoever that is," Elena said, nodding her head in the direction of his discarded cell phone.

"It's nothing I can't reschedule," he reassured her, placing his hand onto her knee. "It's just a business dinner. Right now, you're more important."

His phone rang again and Damon pretended like he didn't hear it, keeping his focus on her.

"Well at least tell them that you aren't coming," Elena pushed, picking up the vibrating phone and handing it to him.

Damon huffed at her insistence, taking it from her hand. "I'll be right back. Don't move," he told her before raising the phone to his ear.

Elena nodded and relaxed back onto the couch as she watched him walk into another room of the large suite. She couldn't hear any of his phone conversation and she didn't want to live too much in her own mind while she waited for him to come back, so she occupied herself with counting the number of sconces in the ridiculously opulent room. All told, there were twenty-four. Then she started counting the number of crystals on the chandelier above her head, but she lost track somewhere around fifty-eight.

She was staring up above her, about to start back at the beginning, when she heard Damon clear his throat. She turned to see that he had changed from his suit into a pair of dark jeans and a black tshirt, which was a damn shame because that grey suit had quickly made its way onto her list of favorite things. Elena offered him a small smile as he stood there, trying to let him know that she was a little better now than when she'd unloaded a torrential downpour of tears onto his shirt earlier.

"Everything taken care of?" she asked him.

He nodded his head then took a seat next to her on the couch and they just sat there in silence for a little while.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he told her, breaking the quiet and reaching to hold her hand.

Elena knew she didn't have to tell him, but she wanted to. It was a part of her history, a part of who she was, and she wanted the man that she loved to know all of her. "I was home for Christmas break my freshman year of college and my high school friends were having a bonfire party. Jeremy was sick and both of my parents had overnight shifts at the hospital. I don't think I ever told you that. My mom was a nurse, my dad was a doctor. It's how they met."

Damon listened intently, his eyes focused solely on her as he lightly stroked her hand with his thumb.

"I was supposed to stay home with him to make sure his fever didn't get any worse, but I didn't feel like babysitting my teenage brother so my friends came and picked me up. Damon, I wasn't even supposed to be there. If I had just stayed at home like they'd asked-" Elena didn't finish her sentence because she couldn't allow herself to live in the what ifs anymore. It was the what ifs that nearly drove her insane.

And he sensed that. "You can't think up alternate scenarios, Elena. You can't change the past."

"I know," she nodded. "It's just hard not to blame myself. I must have only been at the bonfire for maybe a couple of hours, but I had way too much to drink. I felt awful and no one could take me home. I wasn't going to call them, but I was about to pass out in a field in freezing temperatures and I didn't know what to do. I called my mom and she jumped into the car with my dad to come rescue me. It wasn't even a question. I remember she wasn't even that mad at me, just concerned. They had to cross Wickery Bridge to get me and it was iced over. They didn't make it. The car landed in the water and they both drowned." Her voice finally faltered, cracking a little as she spoke about the bridge.

She waited for Damon to say something, anything in response. She wasn't sure what she expected him to say and she wasn't even sure if there was anything he could say that she hadn't already heard before. He appeared to understand that, instead bringing her in tightly to his chest. Curling her legs underneath herself, she allowed him to soothe her as they sat there on a grey luxury couch underneath a ridiculously extravagant chandelier surround by twenty-four sconces in a hotel room in London and it was the first time she'd felt truly at home in a very long time.

* * *

"You really have to leave me?" Elena whined from the bed in Damon's hotel room. Ever the gentleman, he'd lulled her quietly to sleep on the couch the previous evening. She briefly remembered waking up as he'd carried her to bed, removing her jeans so that she could comfortably sleep in her shirt and underwear.

"Afraid so," Damon admitted while looking into the mirror to straighten his tie. "I had to reschedule that business dinner as a business brunch. I'll be quick though. You can stay and wait here, if you'd like."

She stretched her arms over her head and yawned. "I need fresh clothes and a shower."

"Well it might surprise you that this hotel room comes equipped with a shower," he smirked, kneeling in front of her on the bed. "You can borrow some clothes."

"I'm starting a collection of your tshirts," she smiled as he leaned in to kiss her gently. "If I borrow any more of them, people will start thinking I'm a klepto."

He chuckled against her lips and then made to pull away from her, but the sensation of his lips pressed against hers coupled with the feeling that they'd chosen each other made her pull him closer by the lapels of his suit jacket. She lay back onto the bed and he followed, resting his chest on top of hers, as her tongue stroked his. He was holding back a little and it exasperated her because she wanted nothing more than to feel him inside of her again. She mentally cursed the fact that they'd already slept together once before because she knew how pleasurable it would be. It made the waiting game all the more agonizing. In frustration, she boldly took one of his hands and placed it between her legs to let him know that's where she wanted him.

Damon responded in kind, letting his fingers push her underwear aside. His long index finger slowly stroked up and down her folds. He was teasing her and she knew it so she bucked her hips upward to let him know she wasn't trying to play that game. The action seemed to snap him back to reality as he pulled away from her and rested his forehead against hers. Elena pouted her lips dramatically in response.

"For the love of all that is holy, please hold that thought until I get back from this business thing. I can't cancel again," he rasped out between deep breaths. He always took breaths like that when he was trying to calm himself down.

She'd gotten lost in the moment and completely forgotten that he had somewhere important to be, until he reminded her of course. She shooed him away with her hands. "Yes! Sorry! Go!"

"You'll be here when I get back?" he verified as he stood up and attempted to tidy his suit. It wasn't her favorite grey one, but it still launched a couple wayward butterflies in her stomach.

She nodded and then watched as he took his wallet out of his pocket.

He put a black American Express card onto the nightstand beside of her. "Call down to the doorman, tell him your size, and give him this card number. You'll need him to get you some clothes for today and a really nice cocktail dress for dinner tonight. Don't forget whatever shoes and jewelry that you women feel the need to wear either."

"How very Richard Gere of you," she joked. "I can just run home for some things. It's honestly not that far. I'll be back before you are."

Damon slid the card closer to her on the nightstand, not giving up that easily. "Just take the card and let me buy you a damn dress, Elena. I want you to feel as beautiful tonight as I know you are. I've been planning this dinner all week."

"Fine. But I'm going home to shower and change into clean jeans then I'll go find a reasonably priced dress myself," she negotiated as she pointed her finger at him. "I will allow you to pay for the dress only, nothing else."

"Yep," Damon said through a fit of laughter. "You're going to be a force to be reckoned with on Wall Street if you keep negotiating like that." He placed a chaste kiss on her forehead then turned on his heel to leave. "A real terrifying little sassy kitten."

"Reasonably priced dress and nothing else!" she called after him before she heard the front door of the suite slam closed behind him.

* * *

 **A/N: I told you that Jesse would not be long for this world! I mean, are you really surprised? How can he even begin to hold a candle to Damon?**

 **And yes, Kai came back for a bit but rest easy that he is NOT coming to London or anything like that.**

 **Until next time .. holla at me, ya'll!**


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hi! You guys still there? It's been awhile. My muse was in hiding, but I took a week's vacation to Disney World and now she's back! Let's hope she stays.**

 **After the sadness of last chapter, I needed some fluff and some happy Elena. This chapter doesn't feature much DE at all, but it's setting us up for some great things to come. Happy reading!**

* * *

 **It's something we just know, we feel it in our bones**

Her toes curled as she lifted her arms above her head and stretched out in the comfortable bed. Damon had been gone for all of ten minutes and already Elena missed the tingling feeling she got when he was around. As soon as the door to the hotel room clicked shut, she immediately felt the loss of warmth and it made her wish he'd cancel his meeting to roll around in bed with her all day.

She knew that wasn't happening. He'd already postponed it once for her. Once she came to terms with that, she threw the billowy comforter off and reached for her discarded jeans. Once fully dressed, she used threw her hair haphazardly into a topknot, trying to make it look as little like bedhead as possible. That may have supposedly been the style nowadays, but she wasn't trying buying it. She glanced in the bathroom mirror and supposed that this would have to suffice for the brief tube ride back to her apartment where the comfort of a shower and hair conditioner awaited her. With a sigh, she made sure to grab Damon's credit card from the nightstand on her way out.

The air was sticky as she stepped out onto the damp sidewalk. It was warm out and it had just finished raining. She made the quick trip back to her apartment. Like she'd assured Damon, it really wasn't that far and she suspected that he'd chosen a hotel so close to her on purpose. It must have taken her ten minutes of digging through her purse in search of her phone before she remembered that it was laying on the floor of her apartment, shattered and useless. If Caroline didn't hear from her soon, there would probably be hell to pay so she made it a point to at least Skype with her today.

Then the elevator doors opened to the hallway outside of her apartment and she heard the two most familiar squeals in the entire world. Her eyes caught up to her ears and the roommates she'd desperately missed were standing there jumping up and down in excitement.

"I told you she'd be home! Damon said she was coming home to change clothes!" Bonnie exclaimed to Caroline, who was now practically sprinting to bring Elena into a hug.

"How are you here right now?" Elena asked, dumbfounded. "Did you really hop on a plane because I hadn't called?"

"We got here yesterday afternoon, but weren't supposed to tell you," Bonnie explained, wrapping her arms around Caroline and Elena for a long overdue group hug.

"Enzo had to come out here to work on some business with Damon, so I thought why can't I come too? Then Damon offered to fly us both out here to surprise you tonight, but we couldn't wait that long so we kind of spoiled the surprise," Caroline added.

"That's too much money. I'm going to kill him," Elena joked, shaking her head.

Once they had all successfully hugged it out, they dislodged from each other long enough for Elena to unlock her apartment door. There were no remnants of Jesse in the hallway so she figured he must have left shortly after she did yesterday.

"This place is exactly how I imagined it!" Caroline said as she looked out the window in Elena's living room. "It's so quaint and British and trendy. I did good!"

Bonnie laughed as she plopped onto Elena's couch. "Not half bad," she commented, looking around the room.

Practically bouncing in place and giddy with happiness that the two of them were actually there with her, Elena kicked off her shoes and sat down next to Bonnie. "How long are you guys staying in London?" she asked.

"Eager to kick us out already?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow before cracking a smile.

"We're flying back out with Enzo and Damon on Monday night," Caroline answered, still taking in the view from the window.

Elena visibly frowned. This was the first she had heard about Damon returning back to New York. She obviously didn't think he'd be staying for the duration of her internship, but he hadn't mentioned that he was leaving so soon and she was upset at the thought of him being so far away when they'd just figured things out between them.

Bonnie noticed her reaction. "You didn't know he was leaving, did you?"

She shook her head no to confirm it. "I mean, I didn't think he was just like moving to London for the summer or anything. I just thought maybe I'd get a heads up before he left."

"I'm sure he was going to tell you. He was probably just waiting for the right time," Caroline tried to reassure her, stepping away from the window and placing a caring hand on Elena's shoulder.

"You're probably right." Elena tried to shrug off the negative feelings. She didn't want to spend the day moping, not when she was in London with her best friends. She had a dress to buy and friends to help her pick it out. "I stink, don't I?" she redirected the subject.

Bonnie and Caroline both started laughing at her.

"Well I do!" Elena bellowed.

"You don't stink, but you should do something about your hair," Caroline said between fits of laughter.

"Yeah. Damon doesn't really have a lot of hair products at his hotel, which is surprising because he has great hair." Elena rolled her eyes. He would just have naturally perfect hair, the lucky bastard. "I'm going to hop in the shower and get some clean clothes on. Will you guys be okay here?"

Bonnie nodded her head. "We'll just snoop through all your drawers, no big deal."

"Perfect," Elena nodded as she walked towards the bathroom.

Finally showered and dressed in clean clothes, she emerged back into the living room feeling rejuvenated. Bonnie and Caroline had made themselves comfortable on the couch with a couple glasses of wine.

"It's only like 12:30 in the afternoon," Elena pointed out as she gestured to the bottle of Pinot on the coffee table.

"Exactly," Caroline held up the glass into the light. "It's past noon and I'm on vacation in London and I'm not even remotely tipsy yet."

Bonnie took a sip from her own glass. "Want some?" she offered.

"Damon's got something planned for tonight and I have to go pick out a cocktail dress. I should probably be sober for shopping. I tend to buy slutty clothes when I'm not." Despite her words, Elena walked into the kitchen and returned with her own glass. She held it out to Bonnie, who filled it halfway.

"How very Richard Gere of him," Caroline mused.

"That's exactly what I said! I'm living my own version of Pretty Woman, except I'm not a prostitute!" Elena added, taking a large gulp of wine. It felt good to be relaxing with her friends, drinking wine on a Saturday afternoon, and gossiping about guys. It had been too long and she didn't even realize how much she'd missed it until she got to experience it again. "I don't suppose you two know anything about what he has planned for tonight. I take it you were supposed to be part of the surprise."

"Surprise!" Bonnie threw her hands into the air.

Caroline laughed. "Well since we already kind of ruined that part of the surprise, we can tell you-"

Bonnie clamped her hand over Caroline's mouth to silence her. "We can tell you absolutely nothing."

"So you're on Team Damon now?" Elena arched an eyebrow at her.

"I'm on Team Make Elena Happy by Any Means Necessary," Bonnie responded, to which Caroline nodded enthusiastically.

Elena took a sip from her wine glass. "Can you guys at least come with me to give opinions on cocktail dresses?"

"Well, obviously," Caroline responded as if it were the most evident thing in the world.

Within fifteen minutes, they were out the door of Elena's apartment and well on their way to a list of East London boutiques that Caroline excitedly had pulled up on her phone. After three stores full of dresses that didn't fit her quite right, she found herself being shoved into a fitting room with her arms full of dresses that Bonnie and Caroline picked for her.

She hung the dresses on a hook next to her and started eyeing them to see if any looked like they would work. Admittedly, she didn't really want to go to this particular boutique after seeing that it had four English pound signs next to it on Yelp. It was expensive and she wasn't happy with the thought of charging too much on Damon's credit card.

With a sigh, she flipped over the price tag of a particularly breathtaking deep coral dress with an open back. Out of all of the ones that her friends had picked out, this was the one that really caught her eye. That same eye nearly bulged out of its socket when she looked at the cost.

"Caroline!" she called through the striped curtain. "This dress costs over 700 pounds!"

"And?" Caroline's voice sounded on the other side.

"And if I try it on, my skin may burst into flames." Elena was startled as Caroline peeked her head into the fitting room, pulling back the curtain slightly.

"Coral is your color. Put it on and get your butt out here," Caroline ordered before snapping the curtain closed.

As soon as she finished zipping the hidden zipper on the side, she turned around to face the small mirror on the wall next to her. Elena had to admit it. Caroline was right. Coral was definitely her color and the slight tan that the summer sun had given her skin made it all the more flattering. She turned slightly to eye the cutout in the back. It was the right combination of sexy and sophisticated. She had no idea what Damon had planned for them tonight, but if she wore this dress there was no way it was not going to end up on his bedroom floor by the end of their evening.

She pulled the curtain aside and took a couple hesitant steps out to show the dress to Bonnie and Caroline, hoping they'd feel the same.

"Who is this goddess before me and what have you done with best friend Elena Gilbert?" Bonnie asked, astonishment evident on her face.

Caroline didn't really form coherent words so much as just oh and aw at the dress, reaching out to caress the fabric on Elena's shoulder.

"So you like this one then?" Elena asked through a fit of laughter at her friends' reactions. "Maybe we can find a knock-off somewhere or like a similar cut for cheaper."

"No way! You're getting this one. End of story!" Caroline responded. "Do not make me call Damon," she warned with a pointed finger in Elena's direction.

Elena slumped her shoulders, admitting defeat on this one. The dress was extravagantly priced, but she couldn't deny how flattering it looked on her. She stole a glance at Bonnie, who had a proud smile plastered on her face. "I'm getting this dress, aren't I?" she asked Bonnie.

"You're getting this dress," Bonnie agreed with a nod of her head.

Caroline pulled her phone out of her purse, swiping to reply to a text message. "Enzo says he and Damon just finished with their business thingy. It ran over, but they're on the way back to the hotel."

"I wish I had my phone," Elena pouted, placing her hands on her hips. She'd told them about the ill fate of her cell phone earlier on the way to shopping.

"Well sometimes fits of rage cause cell phones to not work anymore," Bonnie dismissed with a shrug. "It happens."

Laughing at a text she received from Enzo, Caroline typed out a response then looked up at Elena. "You're getting that dress. I'll grab some shoes for you while you're changing."

"I don't need shoes too. The dress is expensive enough, Care!" Elena protested, but it fell on deaf ears as she watched her make her way over to the shoe section of the store.

With a roll of her eyes and after and sheepish smile from Bonnie, Elena stalked back into the fitting room to change back into her comfortable jeans. Sometimes with Caroline, it was better to let her win the battle than start a war.

Still, she physically grimaced when the cashier rang up the dress and shoes before begrudgingly handing Damon's credit card over. Damon surely wouldn't mind, but it didn't sit well with her to be a kept woman. That wasn't why she'd busted her ass in college. She had dreams of her own, a desire to be successful in her own right. She promised herself that one day she'd be the one with the black Amex and she'd come back here to buy herself an even more expensive dress without even worrying about the price tag.

* * *

Standing in the bedroom of Caroline's hotel suite, which incidentally was two floors down from Damon's, Elena turned to examine the effortless French braid that Bonnie had thrown into her hair for her. It was perfect for showing off the cutout back of the dress and it kept her hair away from her face. Caroline had gone all Extreme Makeover on her face, doing her makeup for her with all kind of crazy contouring tricks that she would never be able to understand. She ran her fingers lightly over the bottom of the braid.

"This looks great, Bonnie. Thank you. No chance that you'll tell me where we're going yet?" She'd been trying to guess ever since they'd gotten back to the hotel, but Bonnie remained firm in not telling her. Elena thought she might be able to tempt Damon into telling her if she could ever get him alone, but she only saw him for a brief minute earlier before he had to step away to take a phone call. He and Enzo had been gone most of the afternoon and early evening, something to do with a wooing a big potential client. That meant she was left pestering Caroline and Bonnie for details while they went about getting ready for the evening.

It was just like being back home in New York, the three of them rushing around trying to get ready and offering to do each other's hair and makeup. They were blasting 90s pop music, drinking a little champagne, and snacking on room service as they scrambled around. There were definitely enough mirrors for all of them to have their own, but it just felt more comfortable for them to all crowd around the large full-length mirror on the wall of the bedroom.

Caroline fluffed her blonde waves then took a sip from her champagne glass. "Can we all just take a moment? We're in London together right now, in a fancy hotel room, drinking high dollar champagne that we didn't have to pay for, and we're about to have an amazing night! Let's toast to amazing friendships with beautiful people, finding love in a world where it's nearly impossible to do so, and being boss ass bitches!" She raised her glass into the air and waited.

Elena and Bonnie both grabbed theirs, clinking them all together with smiles on their faces. Yesterday had really been a downright low point for Elena since she'd gotten to London and today had proven to be one of the highest. It was a good day and though she had no clue what was in store for her later, she felt certain that it would be a good night too.

A knock sounded from the front door and if Elena hadn't been anxiously awaiting to kiss Damon again, she probably wouldn't have even heard it over the loud music coming from the sound system. Sitting her glass down onto the nightstand, she ran as fast as possibly could in her heels to answer it. With the door flung open, she threw her arms around Damon's neck, closed her eyes, and breathed him in deeply. She pulled herself back just far enough to allow for a kiss that sent tingles from her head to her toes.

"You weren't here to save me from becoming Caroline and Bonnie's science project so I hope I don't look too unrecognizable," she mumbled into his neck.

He merely chuckled in response as he tightened his already snug grip around her waist. "Keep kissing and whispering to me like that and we won't make it out of this hotel tonight."

It was then that Elena heard a very distinct clearing of the throat and her eyes snapped open to see Enzo and the only other person that would make her day complete standing behind Damon.

"Uh, guys? This is getting a little uncomfortable here," Jeremy said, smiling at her. He was dressed in a really nice suit, the kind of suit that he could never even begin to afford and Elena immediately knew that meant Damon had bought it for him.

Without even a second thought, Elena released Damon and darted around him to give Jeremy an embarrassingly big bear hug. "You're here too?" she asked in surprise.

Jeremy nodded his head and laughed. "You're squishing me, sis."

Releasing her grip, she took a step back, a large smile plastered across her face. "Sorry."

"Would have tagged along with Bonnie and Caroline this morning to surprise you, but Damon and Enzo made me go suit shopping. Do I look okay?" he asked nervously as he glanced down at the crisp suit that fit him like a dream.

"You look so grown up." Elena laced his fingers together as she began to tear up. The emotions of everything were started to get to her. Everyone she cared about was here right now with her in London. She had one person to thank for making that happen.

"She's crying right now, isn't she?" Caroline's voice sounded from inside the hotel room. "Elena, don't you mess up your makeup! I'll have to start all over again!"

"Best surprise ever," Elena said as she turned to Damon and gingerly wiped away the happy tears from beneath her eyes.

He cracked a smirk at her in response, his blue eyes twinkling with excitement. "Oh baby. This is just the beginning."

* * *

 **A/N: And I swoon.**


	18. Chapter 17

With her stomach full of champagne and the most amazing food she'd ever tasted from Clos Maggiore, Elena sat in the back of the black stretch limo, her fingers laced with Damon's, surrounded by the people she loved the most. Caroline and Enzo were whispering into each other's ears, about what she wasn't sure but it probably wasn't PG. Bonnie and Jeremy were laughing as he recounted a story to her about him falling asleep in class and literally falling out of his chair when the professor called his name.

And Damon was sitting next to her, looking all delicious and frustratingly attractive in a grey suit with a baby blue tie. She wanted to claw her way through the fabric to get to him, but he promised her that they would get to that later.

"Can you at least give me a clue as to where we're headed now?" Elena whispered as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"We're almost there," Damon replied, tenderly kissing her on the forehead. "Your curiosity won't kill you. I promise."

A few minutes later, the limo stopped. Damon shuffled to get out so he could extend his hand to Elena. She gladly accepted it, afraid that the champagne had made her unsteady on her high heels. When she looked up, she recognized the building, all lit up and beautiful in the nighttime. She'd passed by it before, but hadn't had the chance to check this off her London to-do list yet. How could he have known she wanted to do this?

"We're going to see Phantom of the Opera?" she squealed excitedly.

"Yep," Damon responded, the corner of his mouth turning up.

"Opera. Great," Jeremy said sarcastically.

"Oh, you'll love it," Bonnie reassured him. "It's super romantic."

"Just so you know, Elena," Caroline whispered into Elena's ear. "This boyfriend is a major, major upgrade."

She rolled her eyes and planted a kiss on Damon's lips. "Thank you. This is amazing. Thank you."

She should have known that going to the theatre with Damon wouldn't be just an average run of the mill theatre experience. The man rented out an entire aquarium for their last date for crying out loud. Still, she was surprised when they were personally greeted by a butler as soon as they walked into the front door of Her Majesty's Theatre. He escorted them to a private box, with an amazing view of the stage. Their area was stocked with champagne and an array of desserts. She couldn't wait to dig into all of it before the show started.

"Happy?" Damon asked her.

Elena popped a salted caramel bonbon into her mouth and nodded.

"It's thirty minutes until curtain," the butler announced to them. "May I get you anything before the show begins, Mr. Salvatore?"

Damon shook his head. "No, thank you."

The butler turned to look at Elena. "Mrs. Salvatore?"

"Oh, I'm not, we're not," Elena stammered out, her cheeks turning pink.

"We're all good," Caroline interrupted. "Thank you."

Elena gave Caroline a look of gratitude for stepping in on that one. She perused the spread of desserts while sipping from her champagne flute. So far, Damon had planned the perfect evening and she was looking forward to how it would end. He'd been giving her small touches all night, completely innocent to any clueless onlookers, but each small stroke on her lower back or tender kiss on her cheek sent electricity running through her veins.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Damon's voice ghosted into her ear as he settled his arm around her waist and placed his hand on her hip.

"Just thinking about this morning. You started something in your hotel room that you didn't finish," Elena whispered back to him.

"Now, now, Miss Gilbert," he teased. "We're in a fancy place. You'll have to patiently wait. It isn't like we could go for a quickie in the bathroom stall."

The lights flickered to signal that everyone should begin to take their seats. Damon grabbed her hand and led her to two chairs. She stumbled in her heels a little, but he steadied her as she sat down. The lights faded in the audience and illuminated on stage. As the overture began to play and Act I began, he slid his hand onto her knee and allowed his thumb to rub small strokes over her bare skin.

As long as she'd been waiting to see Phantom of the Opera here, she found it increasingly difficult to concentrate as the musical continued on. Goosebumps rose up along her skin, shivers down her spine, and quivers between her legs. All because he was simply touching her knee. The man she loved who loved her in return was touching her knee and it was the sexiest thing she'd felt in ages.

When intermission came around, she couldn't stand it anymore. Her Majesty's Theatre may have been a fancy place, but a quickie in the bathroom was her only option right now. She was too wired to sit still next to him for another hour. The lights in the theatre rose and she snatched him by the hand, dragging him away from their group's private box. Caroline and Bonnie's nosey gazes were on them as they passed by.

In the lobby, he planted his expensive Italian leather shoes firmly onto the carpet. "Where are we going?" he asked her.

She tried tugging him in the direction of the bathrooms, but he was impossible to move without his cooperation. She chewed her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment and shamelessly rubbed her thighs together. People were breezing past them in the lobby, occupied by their own plans for the evening and paying them no mind as they stood there.

"You can't wait?" he asked, the corner of his mouth turning up into a smug smirk.

Elena shook her head no and then nodded towards the bathrooms. Unfortunately, there was a line coming out of the doors of both of them. There was no way they'd get any semblance of privacy in there.

He let out an amused chuckle. "Follow me," he said as he took the lead and exited the theatre. The summer night air was sticky, but the breeze helped to cool her skin as the evening enveloped them.

"Where are you taking me?" she whispered, but he didn't answer.

They rounded the corner of the building and came to a parking garage. He hurried his footsteps and she made her legs move impossibly fast to keep up with him until she saw the limo they arrived in parked next on the third level. Damon knocked on the driver's window and it rolled down.

"Everything okay, Mr. Salvatore?" the driver asked him, looking up from a book he must have been reading to pass the time. "Are we ready to leave? I'm so sorry. Time must have slipped away from me."

"No, Gerard. It's just intermission. Would you care to go grab a bite to eat for a few minutes?" Damon asked him. He reached into his wallet and fished out a wad of cash then handed it over.

Elena blushed, hiding her face behind Damon's sculpted shoulder. There is no way Gerard was clueless as to what was really going on as he looked at Damon and then over to her. Still, he remained professional in his demeanor.

"That's kind of you, Mr. Salvatore. I'll run and grab some fish and chips," Gerard said, stepping out of the limo. As he went to leave, he turned to whisper to Damon. "The back doors are unlocked, sir."

When Gerard disappeared from their view, Damon helped Elena into the back of the limo and his hands were hiking up the coral material of her dress the minute the doors were closed. The backs of her thighs clung to the leather seat as she shimmied her underwear down to her ankles. They weren't wasting any time.

He kneeled between her legs and blew cool breathes onto her center, nipping at the delicate skin of her inner thighs and coaxing her to spread herself wider for him. She complied and let her hands weave their way through his dark hair. He pressed his lips to her swollen bundle of nerves and her grip tightened as she cried out. He was relentless in his assault, his tongue never giving her a chance to catch her breath as it moved with expert skill.

He paused to drape her legs over his shoulders and then cupped his hand under her ass to lift her off the seat. Supporting her weight, he dove back between her legs without hesitation. One of her hands shot up and banged against the ceiling of the limo as she gasped. Christ, this man was going to be the death of her. It felt too good. He was too good at this.

Her world shattered. She exploded on his tongue, her legs trembling as they sat atop the shoulders of his suit jacket, her high heels digging into his back to help anchor her back down to Earth.

After a few seconds, Damon gently lowered her back down onto the seat and looked up at her with his ocean blue eyes. He swiped at his bottom lip with the pad of his thumb and then popped it into his mouth. "God, you taste amazing."

Part of Elena wanted to lay there in all of her post-orgasm glory forever, all tingly and spent. Another part of her ached to touch him back and make him feel as good as he had to her. And the last part of her knew that they'd been gone far too long, missed the beginning of Act II, and had friends who were probably looking for them by now.

She didn't have to choose which to listen to as he chose for her. "We should get back," he told her, placing a kiss on her cheek and then on her lips. He dangled her black lace thong on his index finger and she snatched it from him quickly.

"Don't you want me to take care of you?" she asked, smiling at him.

"I have patience," he teased with a wink. "I'm in charge of my hormones."

Elena slipped her legs through her underwear and pulled the back into place. She smoothed the bottom of her dress down the best she could. "Well, we both know that's a lie," she bantered back.

"Yeah," Damon mused under his breath. "But I have to make a good impression on little Gilbert in there." He hooked a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the theatre.

"Pretty sure you already did that by flying him to London."

Damon stepped out of the limo and offered his hand to Elena. He pulled her out and she collided with his chest. He smelled like cedar and champagne and her. She could have stood there breathing him in all night, but they had a musical to get back to. They walked the short walk back to the theatre hand in hand.

As they reached the steps, Elena stopped for a moment. "Are you really leaving on Monday?" she asked him. "When were you going to tell me?"

He dropped his gaze to the ground. "I was planning on telling you tomorrow. I didn't want to ruin tonight with goodbyes."

"Please stay," she begged. "I've got a few more weeks here and I don't want to spend them without you."

"I've been gone from the company too long already. I can't expect Enzo to keep running things. I'm sorry, Elena." He really did sound apologetic about it. "I promise we'll stay in touch and if I can get away for even a day, I'll use the time to come see you."

She nodded her head. Damon leaving London sucked, but she understood it. He got to be where he was because of his work ethic. It was one of the many things she loved about him. It was one of the many reasons that she fell in love with him in the first place.

"I love you," she said aloud. She'd thought it several times. She knew it was true. She knew how she felt, but she'd never actually verbalized the words until now.

He brought his hand up to cup her cheek tenderly and without any semblance of reluctance he replied. "I love you too, but you already knew that."

* * *

Sunday morning brunch proved to be entertaining as the six of them sat in the dining room of Damon's hotel suite. Bonnie had clearly hit the champagne a little too hard last night, evidenced by her resting her head in her hands with her elbows propped up onto the white tablecloth.

"The bubbles," Bonnie groaned.

Caroline attempted to push an omelet in front of her, but Bonnie pushed it right back. The whole interaction elicited a chuckle from Jeremy, who then received a swift swat on the arm from his girlfriend.

"So what's on the sight-seeing tour today, fancy man?" Caroline asked Enzo as she bit into a piece of bacon.

"The London Eye and then I figured I'd let you drag me around on a King's Road shopping trip," Enzo answered. "I did promise you a present in exchange for that thing last night," he smiled at her with a raise of his eyebrows.

"Guys, I'm already nauseous over here," Bonnie jeered.

"As if we couldn't all hear the bumping and grinding from you two happening in the hotel room next door," Caroline shot back teasingly.

Jeremy blushed, keeping his gaze strictly on his plate of blueberry crepes, and Bonnie cracked a smile.

"And now I'm changing the subject," Elena interjected.

"Oh, don't think you're getting off so easy," Caroline teased. "Your neck looks like you had a run-in with a Hoover vacuum cleaner last night."

Now it was Elena's turn to blush, but Damon lovingly stroked her hand under the table.

"We're among friends. It's fine," Caroline reassured her.

It was strange. As she looked around the table, this circle of people that surrounded her were all so different. They were from different parts of her life, met her at different times and under different circumstances, and yet everyone fit together like a happy family. A dysfunctional family, but still a happy family. Family was important to her and for a while she'd convinced herself that Jeremy was all she had left in terms of family. Now she knew that she could count on any of the people sitting at this table. It felt good to be surrounded by that kind of support.

Damon leaned over and whispered into her ear. "Do you want to join them at the London Eye today?"

In the time she'd been in London, she'd already done plenty of sight-seeing. She and Jesse had gallivanted around the city their first two weeks there and done all of the touristy stuff possible. She'd sat at the top of the London Eye and gazed out at the city landscape with him, enraptured by the magic of England. And yet she was dying to experience that all over again with Damon.

"I'd love to," she said with a nod.

They all finished up their breakfasts in between some witty banter and quite frankly some oversharing. Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena had clearly known each other for far too long and were just too comfortable overstepping boundaries.

Dressed in a flowy, red sundress with her hair braided to the side and a comfortable pair of brown sandals on her feet, Elena held Damon's hand as the six of them crowded into the hotel elevator. It was a hot day, unusually humid for normal London weather, but that didn't stop them from venturing out for the day.

They took the metro, quite the contrast to last night's luxurious limousine ride, over to the London Eye and when they emerged from underground, Caroline's mouth fell open as she stared up at it.

"I think I just realized that I'm afraid of heights," she mumbled.

"You'll be fine, love. We can see the whole city from the top," Enzo reassured her with a hand placed on the small of her back.

Elena's eyes twinkled in excitement. She was practically vibrating on her feet as she stared up at it. She took Damon by the hand and raced her way towards the ticket counter as fast as her short legs would carry her. Damon trailed behind her, trying to keep up with her pace.

"What good is all of that muscle if you can't run towards stuff with me when I need you to?" she teased as they reached their destination. "Is that body pretty much for show?"

He laughed. "Keep making fun of me. I'll wear you out later."

The rest of the group caught up with them as Damon was fished out his credit card to pay for everyone's tickets. Elena balked a little at the total, but he barely batted an eye. Really after last night, she shouldn't have been surprised. This was a drop in the bucket for him.

"I don't' remember this being so expensive," she whispered to him.

"Well I wanted everyone to have their own private capsule," he shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

When she'd gone before, she and Jesse been huddled together with strangers in a capsule. They weren't fighting to see out the window or anything, but she found that she wasn't able to move around to see all the different angles like she wanted to. With Damon, it'd be just the two of them. She wouldn't have to share the moment with anyone else.

He took her by the hand and led them through the Fast Track entrance. It was a much shorter line than she remembered, maybe only a few people in front them really. As she leaned on the railing next to her to wait, Damon kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"I'm going to miss you. I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye to you tomorrow," he told her, penetrating her eyes with his own.

She felt the same. She understood why he had to go, but that didn't mean she wanted him to leave. "I'll miss you too. We'll keep in touch though, right? Things won't be different when I come back to New York?"

"Of course not," he said, shaking his head. They moved forward a little in the line. "Why would things be different?"

Elena shrugged and looked down at her sandals. She toed a small pebble on the ground. "I don't know. This whole whirlwind, sweep a girl off her feet, romance thing isn't really the Damon I've come to know."

"That was my mistake," Damon explained. "I can't believe I almost lost you because I couldn't just get my head out of my ass and admit that I wanted you from the moment you spilled your drink on me."

"Well you didn't lose me and for that I'm thankful."

When it was their turn, they held hands as the attendant closed them inside of a capsule on the London Eye and soon they were being lifted into the air. Elena moved around the capsule, taking in the views of the city as they rose to the top. Damon stood with a glass of the complimentary champagne in one hand and the other shoved into the pocket of his shorts, staring intently at the view of her instead.

"God, I love this city," she said in astonishment, her gaze out one of the glass walls.

"Move in with me?" Damon said abruptly.

She turned to him and scrunched her eyebrows together. "What?"

"When you get back to the city, will you move in with me? I was just standing here watching you smile and thinking how I'd like to wake up to that face every morning." He pushed himself off of the glass and took purposeful steps closer to her. "Elena, I can take care of you. You won't have to worry if you have enough scholarship money or if you've saved up enough over the summer to cover your rent for the school year. I can protect you from Kai and whatever else might come your way."

"What you're saying sounds like a dream, Damon." Elena took a step back away from him. "It would be a dream for any other girl in the world. Not me though. It's too soon."

"At least let me help you with tuition?" he offered.

She shook her head side to side. "My scholarships can cover it."

Damon downed the rest of his champagne and set the glass down next to the chilled bottle on a table. "You're so damn stubborn."

Elena grinned. "I know."

"It's one of the reasons I love you."

"I know."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him, so close that she could feel the rise and fall of his chest against her own. "This is not the end of this conversation," he whispered into her ear.

She smiled. "I know."

* * *

Getting back to her internship on Monday morning was the very last thing Elena wanted to do. Still, she did it. She pried herself out of Damon's warm arms that morning after he'd slept over at her tiny apartment and proceeded to put on a pencil skirt and a blouse. It was a lot harder to leave him there sleeping than she expected it to be, but she suspected that was due to the fact that he was leaving later that night.

She really wanted to spend his last day in London rolling around in her sheets together and eating take-out food, but she couldn't afford to miss a day of work if she wanted a good reference from Mutual Financial. A good reference from them would be like gold when she embarked on the inevitable job search after graduation.

The minutes of her workday seemed to tick by slowly, feeling more like hours. Each time she looked at the clock on her desk, she wondered if it was indeed broken. Maybe that's why it wasn't moving as fast as she thought it should be. One her lunch break, she walked a few blocks down the street to a small bistro and met Damon for lunch. He asked her what classes she was considering taking and weighed in on any financial professors he knew personally. The conversation was light and as she munched on her salad with the warm summer air beating down on her, she almost begged him to stay about five times. Then he'd say something about work and his blue eyes would light up in excitement so she held her tongue.

They held hands and split a chocolate pastry for dessert outside the bistro at a small table in front of the window. Then when it was time for her to walk back to work, there was an overwhelming sense of sadness that blanketed the both of them. Damon stood and offered her his hand. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. He walked her back to the doors of Mutual, but they didn't say anything. They were saving any and all goodbyes for the moments before he got on the plane that evening.

As he held the front door open for Elena to disappear inside, Elena's boss stepped out of the door next to them, likely going on his own lunch break.

"Mr. Kensington," Elena nodded politely to him. Andrew Kensington had been a fantastic boss to her, not at all a tyrant. He'd trusted her with many important projects and exercised tremendous patience as she tried to navigate her way through them. Still, he was a very formal man and he held tightly to the rules of professionalism in the workplace.

"Ms. Gilbert," her boss nodded back to her before glancing over in Damon's direction and cracking a smile.

"Andy!" Damon exclaimed, a smirk tugging on his lips. "How the hell you been?"

"Damon!" Mr. Kensington stepped toward him and brought him in for a hug. "Rachel's nagging me as usual to take some time off work. I've been meaning to make a visit to New York over the summer. What brings you to London this time?"

Elena quietly stood on the sidewalk in front of the doors watching the exchange. She'd never seen her boss so casual and relaxed before. Then again, she didn't know him outside of a workplace setting. Apparently Damon knew him pretty well.

Damon nodded his head over to Elena's direction. "Came here to win back my girl," he answered.

"Isn't she a little young for you?" Mr. Kensington shot back with a joking wink.

"You're one to talk, you old man," Damon grinned. He turned to Elena. "Andy and I went to boarding school together. We've known each other since we were fourteen," he explained.

"Speaking of boarding school, how's Enzo?" Mr. Kensington asked Damon. "Still working for you or has he come to his senses yet?"

Damon chuckled. "Still working for me. He hitched his cart to the right horse, I guess."

Elena shuffled her feet side to side. She was already late getting back to her desk, but she didn't want to interrupt their reunion and she also didn't want to just disappear inside without saying goodbye. It was then that her boss turned to look at her.

"Miss Gilbert, thank you for having that report on my desk before you left for lunch. It'll be extremely useful for my lunch meeting, which," he glanced down at his wrist watch. "Which, I'm about ten minutes late for."

"Of course, Mr. Kensington," she smiled. "Have a great meeting."

"How long are you in town?" he asked Damon. "We should get drinks. Bring Miss Gilbert. I'm sure Rachel would love someone to talk to that's closer to her age."

"I'm actually flying out tonight at 8," Damon answered him. "We could maybe manage drinks early though."

"I can get out of here early. Rachel should be done playing tennis by 3. Let's say 4:30?" Mr. Kensington responded.

"4:30 works great," Damon nodded. "The Rivoli?"

"Sure. See you both there," he smiled at them. "Which means feel free to end your workday at 3, Miss Gilbert."

"Stop giving my girlfriend bedroom eyes and get to your meeting," Damon laughed.

When her boss finally walked away, Damon reached back to open the door for Elena as if nothing had even happened. She wasn't letting him get off that easily.

"Did you have anything to do with me getting this internship?" she asked as she reached out and pushed the glass door closed.

"I promise you I didn't, Elena. Although if I had known you were working for Andy, I would have definitely put in a good word for you."

"So Mr. Kensington hired me without knowing anything about our history?" she clarified, arching an eyebrow.

He nodded. "Yes."

"Okay, so who is Rachel?"

"Rachel's his wife. He never mentioned her?"

Elena shook her head no. "We don't discuss our personal lives in the workplace."

"Huh, who would have thought Andy was such a hardass?"

"He's a great boss, just very professional," Elena defended. She really enjoyed working for him. "Please don't make the last month of my internship awkward for me?"

"And how would I do that?" Damon asked, seemingly confused.

"Oh you know," she shrugged, "doing that thing where you intimidate people into doing what you want. That serious business stare you get when you're negotiating. Don't use it on my boss to try to get him to be more relaxed with me or anything. I'm an intern. Let me be a normal intern."

Damon put one hand over his heart and raised the other in the air. "Scout's honor, Miss Gilbert."

"Thank you," she replied curtly.

"Now can I have a kiss?" he asked, sticking out his bottom lip to dramatically pout.

"Only if you stop making that face."

"Deal." He wasted no time pulling her closer to him, winding his arms around her waist, and diving in for a kiss that left her blushing and uncomfortably wet as she walked back inside and stepped onto the elevator for the tenth floor of the building.

* * *

Elena huffed as she tried on yet another disappointing dress. She stripped it off and threw it onto the floor of her bedroom before charging back into her closet for something else.

It was almost 4, which meant Damon was about to knock on her apartment door any minute now. She searched the internet for information about this bar and soon discovered it was quite expensive, which of course meant that she didn't have anything appropriate to wear.

Just as she was zipping up outfit option number four, she heard Damon's knuckles thumping against her door. She stormed out of her bedroom, looking slightly disheveled with her hair still slightly wild and her pencil skirt barely zipped all the way, and opened the door for him to come in.

"You don't look ready to go yet," he pointed out, taking a step inside and closing the door behind him. He was dressed in an impeccable suit and it made her instantly irritated that he looked so effortlessly glamorous.

"You think?" she snapped, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Hey," he reached out to tenderly brush her cheek with his thumb. "Give me a kiss, beautiful."

She smiled. How could she resist that? She stood on her toes and gave him a quick peck before pulling away and darting into her bedroom to resume her search for the right thing to wear.

Once she was out of the pencil skirt and blouse and now flipping through her closet for the umpteenth time, Damon's warm hand slid across the bare skin of her stomach and pulled her close to him. He pressed his arousal into her backside and she could clearly feel it through the pants of his suit and her thin lace underwear.

"Let's bail on Andy," he whispered in her ear.

Laughing, Elena shrugged him off of her. "He's my boss. I can't just bail on him."

Damon reached a hand out and plucked a form fitting simple black dress from her closet. It wasn't something she'd considered wearing for drinks. Typically she reserved this one for church and funerals.

"This one," he suggested as he handed it to her.

Elena eyed the dress and scrunched up her face. "It's boring."

"Nothing is boring when you're wearing it." He took a couple steps and sat down on her bed, taking his phone out of his pocket. "I'll text Andy and tell him we're running a little late so you can do whatever other primping you need to do."

She disappeared into the bathroom so that she could slip the dress on and examine herself in the mirror. It fit her well, but there was nothing special about it. She reached into her jewelry box and decided to jazz it up with a baby blue statement necklace and some earrings. Once she slipped on her heels and touched up her hair and makeup, she was surprised. She actually looked kind of stylish.

Elena peered back into her bedroom, where Damon was relaxing on her bed and typing away at an email on his phone. She cleared her throat to get his attention and he looked quickly in her direction before looking back to his phone. Seconds later, his eyes snapped back towards her and he threw his phone onto the bed before standing up and walking closer in her direction.

"Do I look okay?" she asked meekly. "I know this is a fancy place and all."

He looked at her with hungry eyes and reached for her once he was close enough. He pulled her by the hip so close that she could smell his cologne and it made her weak in the knees. "Seriously, let's just bail," he whispered huskily into her ear.

"Down, tiger," she laughed. She planted a kiss on his cheek, which smeared a little lipstick on his skin. Quickly, she took her thumb and rubbed at his stubbled skin to get it off.

"You're killing me, Gilbert," he groaned.

Elena locked the door to her apartment and the two of them rode down the elevator with their hands intertwined. She was going to miss him after he left and she only hoped that things would be the same between them when she came back to New York at the end of the summer. In a way, London had been a utopia for them. New York was the real world and she feared that they may not survive it.

"When are you flying back?" he asked her as they approached a sleek black sports car with tinted windows. He opened the passenger door for her and she slid inside.

"The beginning of August," she answered. "Is this your car?"

"Rental," he smiled, turning it on and bringing the powerful to life. "I've got all my bags in the trunk so we can go straight to the airport after the bar. I've arranged for a car to take you back home from there."

"You think of everything, don't you?" she smiled over to him.

"Basically," he shrugged as he pulled away from the parking garage.

They filled the drive to The Rivoli with small talk, mostly about what classes Elena wanted to take next year, how busy things had been for Damon at work, and how crazy their friends were. It was easy to forget that he'd be getting on a plane in just a few short hours, but Elena found that the thought still lingered in the back of her mind as they pulled up the to the valet in front of the Ritz London.

Mr. Kensington and a young blonde woman no more than a couple years older than Elena were waiting for them when they walked into the beautiful bar that was inside the hotel. The woman was dressed in a beautiful deep red cocktail dress that perfectly complimented the golden color of her curly hair. Mr. Kensington had on the same suit he wore to work, with the exception that he had removed his tie and unbuttoned the top couple buttons on his dress shirt. It was the most casual Elena had ever seen her boss.

"Miss Gilbert, this is my wife, Rachel Kensington. Rachel, this is my intern, Elena Gilbert."

Elena outstretched her hand to Rachel, but was immediately pulled into a tight hug instead.

"It's so nice to meet you!" Rachel greeted. "Finally! Andrew says you're great."

Elena was startled by Rachel's American accent and casual demeanor, which did not match her husband's proper British at all. In addition to their age difference, it seemed that the two of them had very different upbringings. It reminded her of the differences between her and Damon.

"And you already know Damon," Mr. Kensington motioned over.

Rachel pulled away from Elena for a moment and eyed Damon for a moment. "How could I forget? All those Singapore Slings got us in a trouble last time," she smiled. "I promised Andrew I'd behave tonight."

Damon gave her a wink. "Well that hardly sounds like any fun at all, Rach. Rules are made to be broken, aren't they?"

"Negative influence on my wife and it's only been three minutes," Mr. Kensington chided. "Let's get a table."

The four of them were seated and handed bar menus to look over. Elena scanned the drink options, most of them costing about as much as her entire bar tab would be at her favorite bar at home. She didn't recognize half of them.

"What can I get for everyone?" a cocktail server in a white shirt and black pants asked them.

"I'll have the Rivoli 75, please," Rachel order confidently as she folded her menu and handed it to the server.

"And for you?" the server turned to Elena, who was still studying the menu with a furrowed brow.

Rachel must have noticed her hesitance because she spoke up. "She'll have the same."

"Very well," the server said with a nod.

As Damon and Mr. Kensington ordered their own drinks, Rachel leaned over to whisper to Elena. "Gin and champagne," she said with a smile. "You can't go wrong with it."

"Thank you," Elena whispered.

Rachel winked. "Us girls have to stick together."

A few minutes later, a champagne glass was placed in front of Elena with a fruit garnish. It looked like a delicious drink. She looked over to Damon's rocks glass, which was filled with a dark amber liquor and surmised that he'd probably opted for some kind of expensive whiskey.

"So, Miss Gilbert," her boss spoke before taking a sip of his martini with extra olives. "How did you and Damon meet?"

"I spilled a drink on him, Mr. Kensington. He wasn't too happy that I ruined his shirt," she answered, looking down at her glass. It was strange to be talking about personal matters with him. They'd never done so before.

"Oh geez. Can we drop the whole Miss Gilbert and Mr. Kensington thing?" Rachel cut in. "I feel like I'm sitting in a board meeting or something."

Damon chuckled.

"Is it okay to call you Elena?" Mr. Kensington asked her.

Elena nodded.

"Great, Elena. Feel free to call me Andrew."

"Or Andy," Damon added with a mischievous smirk. "He loves to be called Andy."

Andrew raised his glass in Damon's direction. "I only let you get away with it because we've known each other for so long."

After the awkward formalities were no longer, the conversation and alcohol flowed freely between all of them. Elena listened intently as Andrew recounted the story of how he met Rachel while she was in London studying abroad. He took one look at her, standing lost outside St. Paul's Cathedral with a map in her hands that was blowing around in the wind, and he knew he had to talk to her. He convinced her to have dinner with him that night and the following night and every subsequent night after. When her semester was up and she was supposed to go back to California, she decided to stay with him instead. They married each other the following summer.

It was a whirlwind romance, by all accounts, and Elena was too analytical to ever do anything so impulsive. She was a look before you leap kind of girl, a girl who considered all possible variations of outcomes before making such a big decision. Rachel clearly was not and maybe that's why she balanced out the straight-laced Andrew so well.

Damon's hand had come to rest on the top of her thigh and he'd been lightly ghosting his fingers over her skin for the past twenty minutes as she tried to seem unfazed by it in the presence of their company. He twirled his bourbon around in his glass with his other hand and tilted it back to finish the last of it before asking the server for another.

Elena chose to keep her wits about her, pacing herself with the deliciously sweet champagne and gin drink. While the men talked business, she and Rachel discussed their mutual love for Ben and Jerry's, Real Housewives, and fuzzy pajamas. It was a shame they hadn't met sooner. They connected instantly.

"Have you been to Paris yet?" Rachel asked her. "If you love London, then you'll love it there. Andrew took me on our third date and we try to go back at least once a year."

"I've been working mostly this summer. Maybe if I ever make it back to Europe," Elena responded, though she was unsure where her future was headed. With Damon, there was the possibility of this life of glamorous trips overseas and charity galas on the weekends. She'd seen a glimpse of it already, but she wasn't entirely sure that she could be the kind of partner he needed. It seemed that Rachel's entire life revolved around her husband and Elena wanted a career of her own.

"We'll be back to visit," Damon interjected. "Elena's got one more year of school left and we'll have to celebrate with a graduation trip."

"We haven't even talked about that," Elena blushed at his words, at the casual way that he was making plans. Plans for a year from now, as if the thought of them ever being apart again had never even entered his mind.

Rachel clapped her hands together and then tugged on her husband's arm to get his attention. "Andrew! You hear that? Maybe we can all go together next summer?"

"Whatever would make you happy, my dear," he told her before planting a kiss on her cheek. Clearly he was enamored with her.

With that, Rachel began preemptively planning their trip next year to Paris. She listed off all of the sights that they had to see. She asked Elena which part of the city she'd prefer to stay in. She talked about the galleries and the cafes and of course the shopping. Andrew just nodded along, obviously used to letting her excitedly take the reins on such matters. Damon pretended to listen, nodding along while sipping from his bourbon.

She felt his other hand move higher on her thigh, lifting the hem of her dress up as he went. When she felt his fingers dip down towards her inner thigh, she stilled. Surely he couldn't have been planning to touch her there with her boss and his wife seated at the table with them. She was thankful, at least, that they'd gone to a nice bar so that the table was draped with a large white tablecloth to shield what was happening.

Her face flamed red and she tried to remain calm as his index and middle finger crawled their way between her legs. When she glanced over at him, his face remained unfazed. He was looking in Rachel's direction, offering her some kind of suggestion of a place to have dinner in Paris. Elena grabbed her drink and took a large gulp from it to refocus herself as she felt him graze the fabric of her underwear. She held her breath, afraid that she would moan if she exhaled.

"So Elena, do you have your sights set on anywhere specific for a job after you graduate?" Andrew asked her.

It was the most inopportune timing. Damon had just taken his index finger and started to trace light circles on her clit through the red lace. Elena swallowed and tried to focus on speaking without giving anything away.

"My younger brother is in school in Chicago so maybe there," she answered. She paused for a moment when Damon pushed her underwear aside and gathered some of her wetness onto his fingers. "I do really love New York though so I might stick around," she finished her thought quickly before her body could betray her with a whimper.

Andrew nodded. "Well of course, I'd be happy to write you a recommendation for anywhere. You're quite smart for someone of your age."

"Th-thank you," she replied, stumbling on her words for the first time. Her hand flew to his thigh and she squeezed it for dear life, but he remained unaffected as he dipped one finger inside her and then another.

Damon gently moved them in and out of her, slowly and unnoticeably to anyone else in the restaurant, but it felt like a fire was burning inside of Elena. She feigned interest in Damon and Andrew's conversation, nodding along without really listening as she tried not to make any noises that would raise suspicion. Soon she was chewing on her bottom lip to keep quiet, her hand still gripping his thigh while her other laid flat against the tablecloth. She was too afraid to move it.

"Don't you think, Elena?" Rachel asked and the sound of her name meant that she had to speak again, though she had no idea what the conversation was actually about.

"Um, yeah sure," Elena mumbled just as Damon flicked at her clit with his thumb.

She was thankful that a string quartet started to play in the corner, garnering Rachel and Andrew's attention for a few moments. They turned around to look at the cellist as he plucked his strings and filled the air with their own rendition of Wild Horses by the Rolling Stones. The notes filled the air and it was immediately recognizable to all.

Damon leaned over and his breath ghosted over the shell of her ear. "You're going to come, aren't you?"

She nodded, her teeth biting more firmly into her lip and her eyes closing on their own accord as he continued to work her with his hand.

"Then do it, Gilbert."

She came with a shudder around his fingers as she nearly drew blood from her bottom lip, her body tensing and then finally falling into a slump in her chair. Damon withdrew his hand from her underwear and all she could do was just sit still and wait for her body to not be a pile of mush.

When Elena could finally bring herself to open her eyes and calm her breathing, Damon was leaning back in his chair lazily finishing off the last of his bourbon as if he hadn't just rocked her entire existence with three stupid fingers. Rachel and Andrew still had their backs turned, listening to the music. Thankfully they looked to be none the wiser.

"Another?" their server asked Damon, gesturing to his now empty glass.

Damon looked down at his watch to check the time. "I've actually got a plane to catch. Just the check please," he replied.

Andrew turned around and held up a hand. "All on my tab," he spoke. "Not often this bugger shows his face in London."

"You're too kind, Andy," Damon smiled as he stood from his chair. He offered a hand to Elena to help her up, the same hand that he'd just had between her legs a few minutes ago. Luckily, it appeared he'd wiped his hand clean with his napkin. Elena blushed at the thought that the fancy white cloth napkin now residing in his chair smelled of her.

"Can we stay and watch the band a little more?" Rachel pouted to Andrew. "I like them."

Andrew nodded. "Of course."

Everyone stood and said their goodbyes. Damon and Andrew clapped each other on the back as men do, throwing playful insults back and forth. Rachel pulled Elena in for a tight. She assured she'd be getting her number from Andrew to be in touch soon for lunch or something. It was nice to have made a new friend in the city.

Linking their hands together, Damon led Elena outside and they waited out front for the valet to pull the car around.

"Will you come with me to my brother's wedding?" he casually asked. "It's the second weekend in August."

Elena raised her eyebrows. "You're going?"

"Don't sound so surprised," Damon chuckled. "He's my brother. He's kind of a shithead, but he's still my baby brother."

"I'd love to go," she answered with a nod.

"Great. I'll talk Caroline into taking you shopping for a dress when you get back to New York. My treat, obviously." The car pulled up in front of them and the valet dropped the keys into Damon's hand.

"Damon, I have dresses," she objected.

"The attire is black tie and I want to show you off," he insisted as he opened the passenger door for her.

"Fine," she gave in with a sigh as he pulled away from the Ritz and started the drive to Heathrow.

They had an hour in the car together before they had to say goodbye and yet, she had no idea what to say to him. She thought her mind would be racing with thoughts of the future and proclamations of love. Instead, all she could think about was the feeling in the pit of her stomach at the thought of him leaving, even if they'd just be apart for a few weeks before her internship ended and she came back home.

"Aren't you going to say thank you for the meeting with your boss?" Damon asked he cracked a knowing smirk.

Elena laughed. "You mean the part where you fingered me underneath the table or the part where we're suddenly planning a couples trip to France?"

"Both, but especially the orgasm part."

"There's no saving you from sexual deviancy, is there?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Nope," he said with a shake of his head. "Not where you're concerned."

At least now they were bantering. If she could concentrate on that, maybe it would soften the blow when he inevitably kissed her goodbye.

"How ever will you survive without me while I'm here and you're an ocean away?" she playfully questioned.

"Lots and lots of Skype sex." His tone implied he was serious.

Elena feigned offense, toying with him a little. "I am not dressing up in some lingerie alone in my living room just so you can get your rocks off in a different time zone!"

"Then I guess I'll just have to picture the look on your face when I made you come in the back of that limo," he said in a low voice.

She gulped. Now she was suddenly and immediately turned on. Damn him! Though truth be told, that's probably one of the times she'd be picturing too.

Damon let her play with the radio, choosing whatever pop songs she wanted while he drove the rest of the way. She wanted to ask him to slow down a few times, not because he was speeding unnecessarily, but because she didn't want them to ever arrive. She wanted to procrastinate it and Elena Gilbert never procrastinated on anything.

But they went with the steady flow of traffic and soon Damon was handing the keys to the rental car over to the shop next to the airport. He pulled his suitcase behind him and slung his duffel bag over his shoulder as they made their way to the departures terminal. Elena offered to help carry something, but he wouldn't hear of it.

When they rounded the corner, she was met with the smiling faces of Jeremy, Bonnie, Caroline, and Enzo. They all had their bags with them, Caroline's of course twice as big as anyone else's. Her and her outfit options.

"Can't you just ditch the internship and come back home with us?" Bonnie asked Elena as she hugged her.

"Yeah," Caroline added with a nod. "Who needs the UK anyway? America is a better version. That's why all the cool people left in the first place."

"Heard that," Enzo coughed and smirked.

Caroline turned around and stuck out her tongue at him. "So?"

"If you don't put that tongue back in your mouth right now, I'll put it to good use," he teased.

"This is going to be a long plane ride," Damon winced, glancing over to where Bonnie and Jeremy were now kissing each other. "I'm playing fifth wheel here."

Elena shrugged and patted him on the shoulder. "I think you'll survive."

After a parting hug to Enzo and then an emotional goodbye to her baby brother, Elena and Damon were left standing alone outside the terminal as everyone else headed through security.

"So," he said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his suit and rocking back on his heels. The innocent and awkward gesture made him seem younger than he actually was. More like a young man nervously trying to think of the right thing to say than the refined gentleman who ran board meetings and executed million dollar deals with ease.

"So," she replied.

"I think it goes without saying that I'll call you," he joked with a laugh.

She laughed as well. "You better."

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Damon reached into his suitcase and pulled something out, handing it over to her.

Elena eyed the gift and her eyes welled up with tears, tears that she'd been trying to keep at bay all day. She'd been successful until he pulled out that stupid gift.

"I grabbed it from the gift shop on our way out when you were in the bathroom," he explained. "Elena Gilbert, baby, you're a fucking shark."

She looked at the stuffed animal in her hands, a plush shark with the logo for the London Aquarium embroidered on its tail. It wasn't some overtly expensive piece of jewelry or a stupid flash mob that would embarrass her no end. It was the perfect parting gift. It was a grand gesture that somehow fit into the palms of her hands.

He took a step towards her, his hand tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear before he whispered his words of encouragement. "I love you. You're fearless and a force not to be fucked with. Don't let anyone make you think otherwise."

She grinned. "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me."

"Good. Remember that when we're on the phone in the next few weeks and I'm being an ass," he responded, lightening the mood.

She slipped her arms around his neck and tugged him in for a kiss. She'd been thinking about the moment she had to kiss him goodbye for hours now and this was nothing like she'd imagined it would be. It wasn't a goodbye. It was a _see you later_. It was a _talk to you soon_. It was the words _I love you so fucking much_ personified in an action. And damn it, it made her smile to know that he felt the same.

Enzo let out a whistle from the other side of the security line. "Lover boy! You're going to make us miss our plane!"

"Three weeks," Damon breathed.

Elena nodded. "Three weeks."

"I love you, Gilbert. I'll let you know when we land."

"I love you too."

* * *

 **A/N: Hi! Hello! I've been trying to get this chapter finished for awhile now, but The Octagon had my attention for awhile. I'm working on the next chapter for that as well, in between my mounds of work at my day job.**

 **Anyway, I hope the length, smut, and fluff in this chapter halfway makes up for the long wait. This story is wrapping up. Maybe one more chapter and then an epilogue?**

 **If you're still there, let me know your thoughts?**


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